"You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake."
~ Jeanette Rankin
Image of the day (David Winston):
BODY
~ The Round-Up Interviews: Chad Waterbury -- "Waterbury talks about his new e-book, Larry David, his gig with Rickson Gracie, and oh yeah, training and stuff. In fact, we're heading off to the gym right now to test drive his little dip, chin, and deadlift training circuit."
~ The importance of routine change -- "When you first started going to the gym, progress was steady. Your body was responding favourably, you enjoyed your workouts and you could see yourself getting stronger. Now however things have started to slow, your motivation levels are weaning and the scale hasn’t moved in the last few weeks. What’s going on?"
~ No Connection Found Between Vitamin D And Overall Cancer Deaths -- "No relationship was found between vitamin D levels and the overall risk of dying from cancer, according to a study published online October 30 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. However, higher vitamin D levels were associated with a decreased risk of colorectal cancer death. Several epidemiological studies have supported the hypothesis that that vitamin D can reduce cancer mortality by decreasing cancer incidence or improving survival."
~ Researchers Find Chemical In Red Wine, Fruits And Vegetables Stops Cancer, Heart Disease, But Is Dose-Dependent -- "The next cancer drug might come straight from the grocery store, according to new research published in the November 2007 issue of The FASEB Journal. In the study, French scientists describe how high and low doses of polyphenols have different effects. Most notably, they found that very high doses of antioxidant polyphenols shut down and prevent cancerous tumors by cutting off the formation of new blood vessels needed for tumor growth."
~ Pre-pregnancy weight linked with child's weight -- "The amount of body fat a child accumulates over time may be related to their mother's body mass index prior to and during pregnancy, study findings suggest."
~ Obesity Linked to Increased Cancer Risk (HealthDay) -- "Weight management, exercise and proper nutrition are key to reducing your risk of cancer. And the earlier in life you adopt these practices, the better off you'll be, a new study suggests."
~ Scientists Identify Chemical That Triggers Parkinson's Disease -- "Researchers at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine have discovered the key brain chemical that causes Parkinson's disease -- a breakthrough finding that could pave the way for new, far more effective therapies to treat one of the most common and debilitating neurological disorders."
~ 10 Tips for a Thinner Thanksgiving -- "With a little know-how, you can enjoy a guilt-free Thanksgiving feast -- and the only thing that will be stuffed is the turkey!"
~ Fibromyalgia Pain Caused By Neuron Mismatch, Suggests Study -- "The unexplained pain experienced by patients with fibromyalgia is the result of a mismatch between sensory and motor systems, new research suggests. In a study published in the journal Rheumatology, researchers asked patients to look at a reflection of one arm whilst moving their other in a different direction which was hidden behind the mirror."
PSYCHE/SELF
~ Near-death experiences: Hard to forget -- "Trapped beneath a capsized raft on a churning river in northern California, Galena Mosovich realized her body was "panicking," but not her mind."
~ 15 Common Defense Mechanisms -- "In some areas of psychology (especially in psychodynamic theory), psychologists talk about “defense mechanisms,” or manners in which we behave or think in certain ways to better protect or “defend” ourselves. Defense mechanisms are one way of looking at how people distance themselves from a full awareness of unpleasant thoughts, feelings and behaviors."
~ Scientists Seek a Better Understanding of Fear -- "For some, however, situations that others view as commonplace, walking at night, for example, can lead to overwhelming fear. Fear affects us all, but for some people, relentless fears never seem to go away or appear to have no cause."
~ Amnesia's Allure -- "The mysteries of identity and personality."
~ The neurobiology of fear -- "Fear, that most primitive of emotions, is good, at least when it is kept under control. It is essential for survival, allowing an organism to detect a potential threat to its life. Too much fear, however, can lead to pathological conditions such as anxiety, phobia, paranoia, or post-traumatic stress disorder."
~ How to Quickly Change a Negative Mood into a Positive One -- "I have found that certain actions can work as a new starting point on days like that. A starting point that you can build upon and that leads the day away on a more positive note than you may have predicted."
~ Compassionate Mind Therapy -- "Compassion is not something artificial, like telling yourself you are good at something when you're not, or that you are a 'good person' when you don't feel as if this is true. Compassion naturally flows once the blocks of shame and self criticism are removed."
~ Coping With Stress and Anxiety -- "Feelings of anxiety & fear can be overwhelming. Stress relief & anxiety management includes listening to music, visualization, & distinguishing between reality & fantasy."
~ The Tell-tale Symptoms of Depression -- "People who may be suffering from depression or manic disorders actually exhibit or show each and every kind of symptom of depression that doctors will tell you that depressed people have. Sometimes it’s actually quite easy to overlook such symptoms and not be able to help one’s self or others who are suffering from depression for that matter."
CULTURE/POLITICS
~ Poems about the Underworld -- "Dante's guide through the Inferno is the poet Virgil, who himself described Hell in his epic the Aeneid. While Virgil describes Hell in a book of his epic ("Some heave at a great boulder, or revolve, / Spreadeagled, hung on wheel-spokes"), he is not as relentless as Dante, who spends a full third of his masterwork detailing doomed souls' suffering." This post goes way beyond Dante.
~ What the New Atheists Don’t See -- "The search for the pure guiding light of reason, uncontaminated by human passion or metaphysical principles that go beyond all possible evidence, continues, however; and recently, an epidemic rash of books has declared success, at least if success consists of having slain the inveterate enemy of reason, namely religion."
~ Kathleen Nye Flynn: Dispatch from the Heart of Slutty Halloween -- "Why do girls want the opportunity to "get away with" looking like prostitutes? The logic implies that women have an inner need to impress boys (and other girls) by over-sexing their bodies, and it's only because of societal conservatism that they don't do it more often. Call me an optimist, but I suspect women like to be valued for more than just their cleavage."
~ Ron Galloway: Defending Ann Coulter -- "More than a few HuffPo posts have been devoted to Coulter lately. It's understandable liberals rail against President Bush. They are protesting his actions, not his words. Okay, maybe we should all protest his syntax. But Ann Coulter simply offers up words. Sometimes bizarre, imprudent words, but simply words nonetheless. For this she has to travel to speeches with a bodyguard."
~ War on Iraq: Cashing In on Terror -- "What a boondoggle 9/11 has been for the merchants of war, who this week announced yet another quarter of whopping profits made possible by George Bush."
~ The mystery at the heart of Henry James' The Ambassadors, solved -- "Ever since the 1903 publication of Henry James' The Ambassadors, critics and readers have puzzled over a literary mystery that has come to be known as the Woollett Question. What, everyone from E.M. Forster to David Lodge has wanted to know, is the "little nameless object" manufactured in Woollett, Mass.? The case went cold at some point in the 1960s, but earlier this week it was reopened … and cracked."
~ Fed Cuts Interest Rate Again -- "The Federal Reserve, confronted with surging oil prices and a slumping housing market, cut a key interest rate by a quarter-point on Wednesday, the second rate reduction this year."
HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ Cat's eye view of DNA sheds light on human disease -- "The first full genetic map of a cat -- a domestic pedigreed Abyssinian -- is already shedding light on a common cause of blindness in humans and may offer insights into AIDS and other diseases, researchers reported on Wednesday."
~ Oil Back in Record Territory -- "Crude futures rose to their highest level ever Wednesday as extremely bullish inventory figures from the Energy Information Administration combined with the expectation for a rate cut to send prices soaring."
~ Mich. Arborist Looks to Clone Redwoods -- "When David Milarch first visited Northern California in 1968, he thought he would see avenues of coast redwoods 100 miles long. What he found instead, he said, was a 'moonscape.'"
~ Paleontologists Discover Ancient Jurassic Mammal with New Type of Teeth -- "A team of Chinese and American scientists has discovered a new mammal from the 165 million-year-old lakebeds of the Jurassic Period in Northern China."
~ Cultic City And Fortress Unearthed In Southern Turkey -- "New excavations in southern Turkey have revealed the remains of a massive bastion fortification dating to the Hittite Imperial Period (ca. 1300 BC). Sirkeli Höyük, one of the largest settlement mounds in Cilicia during the Bronze- and Iron Ages, was already known to archaeologists and historians because of two Hittite rock reliefs located at the site."
~ Researchers warn Gulf of Mexico 'dead zone' could grow -- "The New Jersey-size Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" will likely grow in coming years unless federal policies to control it change, in part because the demand for corn-based ethanol fuel will worsen the problem, University of Michigan scientists say."
INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST
~ Recommended reading: The Complete Poetry of John Milton -- "Milton (who’s work is part of the POLYSEMY Bookshelf) is of course essential reading. What I particularly like about the Shawcross edition is: 1) it preserves Milton’s original language, for all its rich sonorities (something contemporary poetry has really lost, by my lights); and 2) all of Milton’s early poetry, written both Greek and Latin, is included."
~ Mirror, mirror… -- "Now that I’m back in the cradle of civilization – i.e. Metuchen, NJ, U.S.A. – I’m once again confronted by my own reflection several times a day. And I do look different. Older. A bit more worn down. In need of a haircut, certainly. You’d think one’s reflection would be objective, showing the cold, hard facts, but I don’t think so. For me, the mirror has been a canvas upon which I cast my hopes and fears, creating a sense of illusion like any good stage magician."
~ The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits -- "Conventional wisdom says that scaling social innovation starts with strengthening internal management capabilities. But a recent study of 12 high-impact nonprofits including Teach for America, Habitat for Humanity and the Exploratorium shows that real social change happens when organizations go outside their own walls and find creative ways to enlist the help of others."
~ The Secret of Being Happy -- "Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert says that you ‘synthesize’ your happiness. That you have a ‘psychological immune system’ that helps you change your views about your world, in order to feel better about the world in which you find yourself."
~ Living Meditation -- "Sustainability and living a greener life are significant causes to me. I do not think that I can live a life that is entirely environmentally true. But I do think that I can lead a life in which I place a continuous effort into living in such a way that will do less harm to future generations."
~ Why cant I meditate properly -- "Have you been in the position where although you have tried really hard you just can’t seem to get your dharma practice working? You keep telling yourself that you should learn how to meditate or meditate each day for a week but, then life gets in the road!"
~ My Teachers, the Leaves -- "It felt really good to forget myself and just clear up the lawns of the leaves. The minute I stepped outside, the fresh air invigorated my body and mind and brought the present moment sharp into focus. There was a slight breeze blowing around, making the vividly colored leaves dance in front of me. I smiled watching the performance and began to mindfully rake the fallen foliage."
Tags:
No comments:
Post a Comment