"Never knock on Death's door: ring the bell and run away! Death really hates that!"
~ Matt Frewer
Image of the day (David Bucknell):
BODY
~ Build and Burn -- "The days of eating mass quantities of food and putting on as much blubber in the off-season as possible are over. The new approach consists of a series of mini-cycles of caloric surplus and caloric deficit."
~ Waistline Growth On High-carb Diets Linked To Liver Gene -- "Experts have been warning for years that foods loaded with high-fructose corn syrup and other processed carbohydrates are making us fatter. Now, a University of Wisconsin-Madison study has uncovered the genetic basis for why this is so.Writing in the December issue of Cell Metabolism, a team led by biochemistry and nutritional sciences professor James Ntambi reports that a gene in the liver, called SCD-1, is what causes mice to gain weight on a diet laden with carbohydrates." The human body is designed to turn fructose into triglycerides and store them as fat, not to burn fructose for energy -- it was an evolutionary protection against leaner times.
~ Fit Over 60s Live Longer Regardless Of Body Fat -- "A new US study suggests that over 60s who are fit live longer, regardless of their level of body fat. The study is published in the 5th December issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and is the work of Dr Xuemei Sui, of the University of South Carolina, Columbia, and colleagues."
~ The Best Fat-Burning Foods: A List -- "Interested in foods that burn fat? Well, in reality, many foods have the ability to increase fat burning and assist with weight loss. But a few are better than others. Below you'll find a nice list of some of the best fat-burning foods around. One thing not mentioned that I would add to the list is hot peppers/chilies, as these have been shown to help boost the metabolism."
~ Placebo As Good As Common Treatments For Sinus Infections -- "A placebo is likely to be just as effective as common acute sinusitis treatments involving a topical steroid and an antibiotic, according to an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), 5th December issue."
~ Beware of Supplements: Steroids Found -- "Pro and amateur athletes and weekend warriors who consume supplements to get in shape or stay there might be getting more than what they paid for — such as small amounts of steroids and illegal stimulants including ephedrine."
~ Transcendental Meditation Effective In Reducing High Blood Pressure, Study Shows -- "People with high blood pressure may find relief from Transcendental Meditation, according to a definitive new meta-analysis of 107 published studies on stress reduction programs and high blood pressure, which will be published in the December issue of Current Hypertension Reports."
~ 4 Easy Steps to Eating Healthy in the Winter Months -- "When winter days are cold, and you want to warm up fast, a bowl of cream soup or stew can certainly be appealing. But there is no excuse to throw all your healthy eating habits out the window just because it's dark and cold outside!"
PSYCHE/SELF
~ Mind Power: Develop It To Achieve True Greatness -- "Greatness can be achieved at any time, by anyone... Not convinced? Discover how to develop the mind power needed to transform your life for the better – Expand your personal development and goals with these comprehensive factors, plans, and more."
~ Optimism Isn't Always Healthy -- "People are generally optimistic, believing they'll do better in the future than they've done in the past. This time around, I'll actually use that gym membership. I'm sticking to the diet this time. Now is the time to start saving for a down payment on a house. However, a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research reveals that this "optimism bias" can lead us to make immediate choices that go against our long-term goals."
~ 10 Tips to Kick Holiday Stress-Management into High Gear -- "Hanukkah began yesterday at sundown. Christmas, Kwanzaa and Boxing Day are three weeks away. The holiday crunch is on us: time for a refresher in slowing it down, regaining our focus and getting re-grounded."
~ Memory, Cognitive Abilities and Executive Functions -- "A misconception we encounter often is that "memory" is the only, or most important, "thing" that our brains do. And the only one we need to care for."
~ Mitochondria Defects Linked To Social Behavior And Spatial Memory -- "Respiration deficiencies in mitochondria, the cell's powerhouses, are associated with changed social behavior and spatial memory in laboratory mice, report scientists at the American Society for Cell Biology 47th Annual Meeting."
~ Ethnic Discrimination Not Only Based On Prejudice -- "Our belief in power hierarchies is important in how we view and treat people. This is shown in a dissertation by Alexandra Snellman from Uppsala University that examines how racist and sexist prejudice creates social hierarchies and ethnic discrimination in various situations. Discrimination and hierarchies are created not only as a result of our prejudices but are affected by other factors as well."
~ Seven Deadly Sentiments -- "Why we are ashamed of our forbidden thoughts."
~ Self-conscious? Get Over It -- "Stop obsessing over your shortcomings."
~ Secret Shame -- "How shame can hurt your health."
~ The Choke Factor: How Stereotypes Affect Performance -- "Every sports fan has vivid memories of key occasions on which a favorite team or player has 'choked' under pressure. And every student who has ever taken a standardized test knows what that kind of pressure feels like. What makes for high-pressure situations, and how do they influence performance?"
CULTURE/POLITICS
~ Modernism: The Lure of Heresy -- "Your question, "Why slight photography?" is well-taken. The truth is that I had written a section on photography, but found it impossible to match it with another Modernist venture (the way dance was to music, or design to architecture), and so, reluctantly, I dropped it."
~ Saving Marriage, Not Just Tradition -- "Conservatives ... argue that “traditional” marriages is the building-block of our society. Right now, they say, that building block is under attack by swelling divorce rates, changing gender roles, and homosexuals."
~ Global Moods - Peter Campbell: Art, Past and Present -- "Julian Bell has written a tremendous history of world art, one that will inevitably be compared with Gombrich's The Story of Art, published nearly sixty years ago."
~ Art, humanity and the ‘fourth hunger’ -- "Half-awakened, humans are constantly engaged in a battle to make sense of the world and our experiences within it. And a great work of art, especially music, helps us to do just that."
~ Apologies All Around -- " Fifty years ago, New American Library published the Mentor Philosophers series, each with a title beginning The Age of . . . Belief, Ideology, Reason, and so on; the 20th-century selections bore the title The Age of Analysis. Had the series continued to the end of that century and into this, the volume should no doubt be The Age of Apology. Our postmodern ethos seems to hold that if anything can be proved to have happened, then surely someone needs to apologize for it."
~ Editors: A Tale of Two Dictators -- "Chávez's defeat should be a lesson for Putin."
~ Bad Faith Awards: Vote for the winner now -- "After months of nominations, the time has finally come to decide who walks away with the coveted 2007 New Humanist Bad Faith Award. To help you decide who will be crowned 2007's most scurrilous enemy of reason we've pulled together a shortlist of 10 runners and riders."
~ Supreme Court Inc. -- "Along with Chief Justice Earl Warren and Associate Justices Hugo Black, William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall--as well as his more cautious brethren, Justices John Marshall Harlan and Felix Frankfurter--Douglas and his colleagues viscerally understood Chief Justice John Marshall's famous 1819 declaration that "it is a Constitution we are expounding." They protected and expanded free speech rights for antiwar and civil rights activists, and drew within the Constitution's protections many groups previously excluded: racial minorities, women, prisoners, probationers and school children. The Bush-Roberts Court rejects this commitment to liberty and equality."
~ Huckabee Now GOP Frontrunner, Giuliani Falling Fast -- "Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, has vaulted over former New York City Mayor Giuliani for the first time in the Rasmussen Reports daily survey. Huckabee earned 20 percent of the likely primary vote compared to Giuliani's 17 percent."
HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ Feeding Cattle Byproduct Of Ethanol Production Causes E. Coli 0157 To Spike -- "Ethanol plants and livestock producers have created a symbiotic relationship. Cattle producers feed their livestock distiller's grains, a byproduct of the ethanol distilling process, giving ethanol producers an added source of income. But recent research at Kansas State University has found that cattle fed distiller's grain have an increased prevalence of E. coli 0157 in their hindgut."
~ Our Hidden Galaxy Neighbor -- "There could be a galaxy, invisible to the naked eye and to telescopes, hidden inside our own interstellar backyard...."
~ Green Turtle Nesting Sites Discovered In Senegal -- "Several marine turtle nesting sites on the beaches of Senegal have been discovered, prompting calls from conservationists to improve protection of the endangered species. The survey discovered nine new green turtle nests on the beaches of Joal-Fadiouth in the Saloum Delta south of the capital, Dakar."
~ Could Hydrogen Sulfide Hold The Key To A Long Life? -- "Hydrogen sulfide, the chemical that gives eggs their sulfurous stench, has been shown to significantly increase life span and heat tolerance in the nematode worm, or C. elegans. In an effort to understand the mechanisms by which hydrogen sulfide induces hibernation in mice, the researchers turned to the tiny nematode, a workhorse of laboratory science because its biology is similar in many respects that of humans."
~ Samsung Develops Fastest GDDR5 Memory at 6 Gb/s - World's Fastest Memory -- "Samsung Electronics announced today that it has developed the world's fastest memory, a GDDR5 (series five, graphics double-data-rate memory) chip that can transfer data at six gigabits per second, which is more than four times faster than that of memories in state-of-the-art game consoles today. Graphics memory is installed in desktop PCs, notebooks, workstations and game consoles to move huge volumes of video or animated images simultaneously."
~ Amazonian dolphins say it with weeds -- "A man may bring flowers to impress women, but male Amazon river dolphins carry weeds to win over the opposite sex, British and Brazilian researchers say."
~ Major physics breakthrough in understanding supersolidity -- "Physicists at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, have made a major advance in the understanding of what appears to be a new state of matter."
~ World's most endangered gorilla fights back -- "In the wake of a study that documented for the first time the use of weaponry by Cross River gorillas to ward off threats by humans, the Wildlife Conservation Society announced today new field surveys to better protect this most endangered great ape."
INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST
~ Re: Some Criticisms of My Understanding of Evolution -- "I’ve seen these types of similar criticisms raised by a few individuals now and then. The following brief response to these critics is by Alexander Astin, one of the foremost scholars on higher education in the world. You may remember the poll of college students that found 75% said that “religion is important or very important in my world,” conducted by UCLA. Alexander (Sandy) was the lead researcher on that study."
~ TRUTH -- Brad Warner -- "As I've said, anyone who goes for Big Mind® gets what they deserve. Think you can get instant Enlightenment for a hundred fifty smackers? Go for it. And those of you who harp on me for harping on it all the time, make sure Gempo pays you for that. OK?"
~ Integral Warriors: Meeting 7, Never Change Your Mind Just To Please Your Woman -- "....Or anyone else, for that matter. Whether your partner, your parents, your kids, your boss..."
~ The Buddha Diaries Recommends -- "Thanks to this article by RJ Eskow in the current Tricycle (I think you have to subscribe to the online magazine if you want to read the whole article, but the magazine itself is a wonderful investment: consider this a plug!), we at The Buddha Diaries have been thinking a bit about Buddhism and blogging, and whether the twain should meet."
~ The New Atheists and Integral Camp Should Talk -- "Paul Salamone (a buddy of mine and the dude behind the hip blog Foreignerd) posted an insightful comment in response to my blog post, The Portable Atheist: A Great Holiday Gift. Below is my response. My response went longer than I originally anticipated so I decided to make a separate blog post. Integral geeks, as well as critics, are invited to add their thoughts on the comment thread."
~ Integral Movement vs Integral Awareness -- "From early 2006 until mid-2007, I was an Integral groupie. I dove into Integral Naked, read a handful of Wilber's books, bought a Stuart Davis CD and had the great fortune of receiving a scholarship to attend an Integral Life Practice 5-day seminar. I was very active in the Integral-Institute Zaadz pod after bailing from the catastrophe that the Integral Multiplex forum presented. I checked Ken Wilber's blog every day. I was fascinated with the whole Kenchilada. Then I woke up. Again."
~ Befriending fear -- "A great list of reasons to thank fear from Debbie Ford, via Mona at Question the Mind."
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