Speedlinking 7/24/07

Quote of the day:

"I am a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy."
~ J. D. Salinger

Image of the day:



BODY
~ Adrenal Fatigue 101 -- "It's estimated that 80% of the population will someday experience adrenal fatigue. When it comes to lifters, the percentage is probably higher. Jimmy Smith gives you 10 signs of adrenal fatigue, along with how to fix what ails ya."
~ How a plate of curry can spice up your sex life -- "Turmeric has been used for centuries in India as a curry ingredient, and as an antiseptic for cuts. Now research shows it also has potential against a wide range of diseases, from cancer to arthritis, and diabetes to dementia. But turmeric is not the only curry ingredient with health-boosting compounds."
~ Fitness means less belly fat at any weight -- "'Fat and fit' men are likely to have a lower risk of heart disease and diabetes because they're relatively trim around the waist, a new study shows."
~ Sodas - diet or not - linked to heart disease: study -- "Diet soft drinks are lower in calories, but are still associated with a greater risk of heart disease as are sugar-laden sodas, according to a new study." This is misleading -- what the study suggests is that people who drink soda -- diet or not -- generally do not eat healthy foods in general. Diet soda DOES NOT cause heart disease.
~ Some polyunsaturated fats may protect the colon -- "New research suggests that eating a lot of foods rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) -- the healthy fatty acid found in foods such as fish and nuts -- may reduce a person's risk of developing colorectal cancer."
~ Can cholesterol go too low? Study sees cancer link -- "Lowering cholesterol as much as possible may reduce the risk of heart disease, but with a price: taking it too low could raise the risk of cancer, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday." We need some cholesterol for healthy function, especially of our hormone systems.
~ If it's not cardio, does it count? -- "Are all-weight workouts a good idea? Is it OK to be a weekend slouch if you're a fitness fanatic the rest of the week? How can you tone up a pouch below your belly button? Smart Fitness answers your workout queries."


PSYCHE
~ Will Saying Thanks Make Us Happier? -- " New research suggests gratitude is a key to health and happiness, but one writer wanted to test that research for herself."
~ Mastering Your Own Mind -- " Distracted? Angry? Envious? There's growing evidence that attention, emotion regulation—even love—are skills that can be trained through the practice of meditation. Perhaps it's time for you to become a high-performance user of your own brain."
~ Meditation: Getting Started -- " How to relax the Buddhist way. A few basic exercises on focusing your attention."
~ Mind Games -- "No doubt about it, sticking to a weight loss program day after day can be tough. Weight loss is really a mind game. When you think about it you can always feed the hunger center of your brain the correct, healthy foods, and it will feel "full." It's the emotional side of you that your brain must overcome. And that's not easy."
~ Making Friendships a Priority -- "It's not news that friendships and healthy support systems are important to our well-being. But when I began to do research for this post, I Googled "relationships" and got mostly sites about romantic or intimate relationships. Magazines, advice columns and other popular media are loaded with information about these. Why don't we place as much emphasis on our friendships?"
~ The Powers and Perils of Intuition -- "Instinct has the power to hush reason."
~ Gut Almighty -- "Intuition really does come from the gut."
~ Trusting Intuition -- "When we think too much."
~ 10 Practical Uses For Psychological Research in Everyday Life -- "People love to give each other advice. The web is full to bursting with all types of pseudo-psychological advice about life. The problem is, how much of this is based on real scientific evidence? Well, here on PsyBlog we've got the scientific evidence. So here's my top 10 list of what you can learn practically from the psychological research discussed here recently."


CULTURE/POLITICS
~ STOP Obesity Alliance Sets 100 Day Plan Of Action -- "With more than 33 million Web site options offered under the search term "obesity," the widespread interest in addressing this growing national epidemic is clear. Less clear is any expert consensus on the societal role and systems changes needed to reverse this health crisis."
~ Can Lindsay Lohan get a refund for her drug rehab? -- "Lindsay Lohan was arrested for cocaine possession and driving under the influence early this morning after failing a field sobriety test in Santa Monica. The 21-year-old actress has been in rehab twice this year; two weeks ago, she finished up a lengthy stay at the Promises Malibu Alcohol and Drug Rehab Treatment Facility. The swanky rehab center costs almost $50,000 for 30 days." This girl is self-destructing -- she needs some REAL help.
~ Debates Stir Debate on Their Value -- "Last night's Democratic presidential debate in Charleston, S.C., was unusual for emphasizing questions posed directly by everyday people via YouTube, the video-sharing Internet site. But it did little to satisfy campaign strategists, who complain privately that there are too many such encounters featuring too many minor candidates and that they aren't very illuminating for the voters."
~ Meetings with Remarkable Gurus -- "Finding a peace and tolerance through a simple, shared exercise: breathing."
~ The Rookie Stumbles -- "Barack Obama's gut response to a foreign affairs question at Monday's debate put his lack of experience on display, David Corn writes. If he's to overtake Hillary, he'll need to put in a near-perfect performance from now on."
~ What Every Sensible Driver Needs: Speeding Insurance -- "Following on from the latest French craze of trading speeding penalties, the Danes have invented a whole new business designed to take the pressure off drivers who like to go fast (or are just careless): speeding insurance." How do we get this in the States?


HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ Renewable energy wrecks environment, scientist claims -- "Renewable does not mean green. That is the claim of Jesse Ausubel of the Rockefeller University in New York. Writing in Inderscience's International Journal of Nuclear Governance, Economy and Ecology, Ausubel explains that building enough wind farms, damming enough rivers, and growing enough biomass to meet global energy demands will wreck the environment."
~ Microsoft and Ask call for heightened Internet privacy -- "Microsoft and Internet search rival Ask.com are bolstering online privacy and calling for a tech industry summit devoted to that goal, they said Monday."
~ Earliest evidence of peanut, cotton, squash farming -- "Anthropologists working on the slopes of the Andes in northern Peru have discovered the earliest-known evidence of peanut, cotton and squash farming dating back 5,000 to 9,000 years."
~ Team sets solar cell record -- "Using a novel technology that adds multiple innovations to a very high-performance crystalline silicon solar cell platform, a consortium led by the University of Delaware has achieved a record-breaking combined solar cell efficiency of 42.8 percent from sunlight at standard terrestrial conditions."
~ Scientists say photosynthesis has a key role in future energy supply -- "Leading experts in photosynthesis research will discuss tomorrow how understanding the fundamental processes that plants use to turn light into energy is a key way of securing cheap, emission-free energy in the future."
~ Chandra catches 'piranha' black holes -- "Supermassive black holes have been discovered to grow more rapidly in young galaxy clusters, according to new results from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. These "fast-track" supermassive black holes can have a big influence on the galaxies and clusters that they live in."


INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST
~ More on post-metaphysics -- "There's a new essay up at Integralworld by Zakariyya Ishaq called "The Myth of the Given and the Forgotten." Ishaq is an avowed metaphysician, perennialist, or spiritual cosmologist, whatever term one prefers. It is the great alternative in many ways to the post-metaphysical outlook I promote in this blog. For that reason, obviously, I disagree with major elements of it, but it's worth the read and the consideration nonetheless."
~ SHAMBHALA SUN ARTICLE -- Brad Warner -- "Here's a nice article that's going to be published in the upcoming issue of Shambhala Sun. You can also go here to read it on-line instead of as a PDF file. I'm not sure I see myself quite the way the writer does. But that ain't no thang. It's still an interesting article."
~ Soulfully Gay - reflections -- "I recently picked up a copy of integralite Joe Perez's Soulfully Gay. If you haven't read this provocative memoir, I highly recommend it. (I'm still making my way through it; I am a slow reader with up to five books on my agenda at a time. Just call me ADD boy.)"
~ The Ten Keys to Lasting Happiness -- "From Dream Manifesto by Deepak Chopra."
~ Buddhist Geeks 29: Mass Producing Meditators -- "In this episode Vince talks with Theo Horesh and Duff McDuffee, two SN Goenka practitioners. They discuss the effects of what can be called the mass production of meditators. They also explore the differences in using a single technique or multiple techniques for realization."

Tags: meditation, Deepak Chopra, Happiness, Soulfully Gay, Brad Warner, post-metaphysics, black holes, photosynthesis, solar cells, ancient agriculture, internet privacy, renewable energy, speeding insurance, Barack Obama, gurus, internet debates, Lindsay Lohan, obesity, useful psychological research, intuition, friendship, mind in dieting, meditation, gratitude, mastering the mind, fitness Q&A, cholesterol, colorectal cancer, polyunsaturated fatty acids, sodas, belly fat, curry, adrenal fatigue, speedlinking