[W]hat's wrong is neither entirely inside the client, in his psychological makeup or dysfunctional patterns, nor entirely outside in the world, in forces that impinge on him. Instead, according to a relational model of psychotherapy, the problem exists in those spaces or activities where outside influences and inside responses interact to create the shape and feel of a "self."
Terrorism, said Powell, is not a mortal threat to America.
"What is the greatest threat facing us now?" Powell asked. "People will say it's terrorism. But are there any terrorists in the world who can change the American way of life or our political system? No. Can they knock down a building? Yes. Can they kill somebody? Yes. But can they change us? No. Only we can change ourselves. So what is the great threat we are facing?"
History and common sense teach that Powell speaks truth.
Since 9-11, 100,000 Americans have been murdered -- as many as we lost in Vietnam, Korea and Iraq combined. Yet, not one of these murders was the work of an Islamic terrorist, and all of them, terrible as they are, did not imperil the survival of our republic.
Terrorists can blow up our buildings, assassinate our leaders, and bomb our malls and stadiums. They cannot destroy us. Assume the worst. Terrorists smuggle an atom bomb into New York harbor or into Washington, D.C., and detonate it.
Horrible and horrifying as that would be -- perhaps 100,000 dead and wounded -- it would not mean the end of the United States. It would more likely mean the end of Iran, or whatever nation at which the United States chose to direct its rage and retribution.
Powell's point is not that terrorism is not a threat. It is that the terror threat must be seen in perspective, that we ought not frighten ourselves to death with our own propaganda, that we cannot allow fear of terror to monopolize our every waking hour or cause us to give up our freedom.
Rhino, Tickbird Stuck In Dead-End Symbiotic Relationship
POLOKWANE, SOUTH AFRICA—After three rainy seasons together, a black rhinoceros and a parasite-eating tickbird are beginning to suspect that their symbiotic relationship has fallen into a rut, the couple reported Sunday."We're really symbiotic—almost too symbiotic," the rhino said. "It's just gotten so predictable lately that I'm starting to wonder, 'Is this all there is?'"
Enlarge ImageThe rhino and tickbird pass another morning on the African savannah not saying one word to each other.
First meeting at a local watering hole in 2004, both creatures immediately saw themselves as natural for one other and, in the words of the rhino, felt something "new, gratifying, and mutually beneficial." Within hours, the tickbird had moved into the rhino's habitat and set up house on his thick hide.
But as time went on, it slowly dawned on the couple that their partnership was perhaps merely one of convenience.
"I admit, when we first got together, I was a total mess," the rhino said. "She really helped me clean up my act. But we've been together so long now that I always know exactly what she's going to do next."
Devouring horsefly larvae embedded in her 3,000-pound partner's back, the tickbird seemed to agree that there was little fire left in their symbiotic relationship. At worst, she said, it feels like she and the rhino have been trapped in the same dead-end symbiosis for "countless millions of years."
"We just go through the motions, and there's hardly any communication," the tickbird said. "And we do it the exact same way every time. I get on top and take the parasites off while he just lays there."
"Feed off the embedded ticks on his hide, chirp when the predators come. Feed off the embedded ticks on his hide, chirp when the predators come. Where's the passion, the heat?" the tickbird continued.
The tickbird also accused the rhino of trying to make her "feel small."
"He doesn't realize everything I do for him," the tickbird said. "If it wasn't for my 'incessant squawking,' as he calls it, he would be shot by poachers before he even saw them coming."
Both creatures separately expressed envy of their neighbors, a plover and crocodile, who "never seem to have the problems we do," the rhino said.
"That crocodile appreciates having his teeth cleaned, and he makes sure she knows," the tickbird said. "Look at that big grin."
The rhino said that he often feels like a victim of her nitpicking.
"I might look tough, but I have feelings," the rhino said. "I give her plenty to eat and a great place to perch, but it feels like she's constantly pecking an open wound. Ugh, why can't we just be friends with mutualistic benefits?"
The frustration has caused the pair to act out in passive-aggressive ways. The rhino will frequently charge without warning, jarring the tickbird from her perch. Meanwhile, the tickbird often deliberately embarrasses her partner by speculating aloud about a symbiotic relationship with a cape buffalo or zebra, often within earshot of those species.
According to a nearby elephant, this sense of stagnancy commonly occurs in symbiotic partnerships across sub-Saharan Africa.
"The rhino and tickbird may have evolved physiologically to meet each other's needs, but it's clear they haven't evolved emotionally," the elephant said. "They need to recognize that in order to go forward. The rhino's loud snorting is very alienating. And obviously the tickbird is projecting her own feelings of inadequacy when she criticizes the rhino for being a typical Diceros bicornis."
For all their friction, both creatures conceded that they weren't sure they could actually live without each other.
"I don't know why we stay together," the rhino said. "I guess we're just creatures of instinctual habit."
| You Should Play the Piano |
 You are a true music aficionado who loves many musical style and eras. You find music to be an escape. And you'd like to be relaxed and comfortable when you're making it. You're very innovative, and you have a unique way of knowing what may sound beautiful. There's a strong possibility that you could compose some of your own work songs quite easily. While you have a lot of creative energy, you are also serious and conscientious. Your musical talent needs time, practice, and lots of privacy to flourish. Your dominant personality characteristic: your painstaking attention to detail Your secondary personality characteristic: your natural tendency to be whimsical |
FitBits
September 15, 2007
Exercise ETC’s Review of Exercise Related Research
Compiled by Chris Marino, MS, CSCS
Director of Education, Exercise ETC
Planning on Pregnancy? Strengthen that Pelvic Floor!
The pubococcygeus muscles, which make up the pelvic floor have several important roles and can experience dysfunction during or following pregnancy (i.e. urinary incontinence, sexual performance, and spinal stabilization). Pelvic floor muscle exercise (PFME), often referred to as Kegels, have been advocated for decades to improve recovery of the pubococcygeus muscles following pregnancy. Interestingly, very few women actually practice them regularly if at all.
A recent study reported that 24% of pregnant women report urinary incontinence, yet only 17% utilize Kegel exercises regularly. So, why don’t more women using Kegels as a preventive strategy pre- and post-pregnancy?
Some researchers and doctors have questioned their effectiveness. However, a study published this month in the journal Clinics reported that women who performed regular Kegel exercises during pregnancy, regardless of dysfunction, did in fact improve the strength of their pelvic floor muscles 47.4% vs. 17.3% in controls.
The answer to the lack of PFME practice may not be physiological or mechanical, but educational. A recent study reported that only 64% of pregnant women surveyed were taught PFME. Racial and ethnic disparities were identified, since a greater number of white (75%) and Asian (48%) women were taught PFME compared to black (36%) and Hispanic (39%) women. In addition, 74% of those receiving education possessed a college degree, whereas 37% were without education. Of note, a high percent of those taught PFME continued to practice the exercises after delivery (68%) and 6 months later (63%).
This research presents a great opportunity for maternity fitness programs that include the education and practice of PMFE.
Oliveira, C.D., et al (2007) Effects of pelvic floor muscle training during pregnancy. Clinics. 62(4):439-446.
Bo, K., et al (2007) Do pregnant women exercise their pelvic floor muscles? International Urogynecological Journal of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction. 18(7): 733-736.
Fine, P., et al (2007) Teaching and practicing of pelvic floor muscle exercises in primiparous women during pregnancy and the postpartum period. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 197(1):107-115
Over-speed Training Improves Function in Older Women
The decline in speed and efficiency of gait is one consequence of aging that can result in poor functional capacity and increase the risk of inactivity-related disease. Improving speed and decreasing the energy demands of walking could significantly improve quality of life among older adults. A recent study reports a unique strategy to accomplish this.
Researchers incorporated body weight unloading using a gait treadmill to exercise a group of 75 to 85 year old women at high speed and intensity over 12 weeks.
During the initial six weeks the group completed interval sessions on a treadmill with 40% body weight unloading at a speed equivalent to the ventilatory threshold (Tvent). Tvent is the point at which breathing begins to become labored. Intervals consisted of 4 sets of 5 minutes alternating 1 minute at Tvent with 1 minute of recovery walking speed.
Speed was increased over the first six weeks after which body weight unloading was reduced to 10% for the final 6-weeks of training. The researchers evaluated energy cost and speed of over-ground walking before and after 12-weeks of training.
The results indicated that energy cost at slow, comfortable and fast walking speeds decreased up to 21%. In addition, maximal walking speed and mechanical power output at Tvent increased, 13% and 67%, respectively.
This study represents a breakthrough in training for older adults. Therapeutic exercise programs aimed at reducing risk of falling and increasing function in older adults should consider the methods used in this study for practical application.
Thomas, E.E. et al (2007) Speed training with body weight unloading improves walking energy cost and maximal speed in 75-85 year old health women. Journal of Applied Physiology. Sept (Epub ahead of print)
Can the Elliptical Cross-trainer Really Save Your Joints?
Many fitness professionals are quick to recommend Elliptical Exercise (EE) for the client or individual with lower extremity joint pain or impact intolerance. Although ground reaction forces that occur with walking are lessened during EE, questions remain concerning the impact EE has on hip and knee kinematics, which might pose a greater risk to some of those same clients.
Researchers in Taiwan studied the kinematics of EE and compared it to that of level treadmill walking. Fifteen adult males were analyzed while walking on a treadmill and during EE. Controlling for cadence and step length, researchers analyzed 3D kinematic data, pedal reaction forces, and ground reaction forces during each condition.
Their findings reaffirmed that EE produces lower pedal reaction forces and loading rates compared to treadmill walking. EE did, however produce greater hip flexor and knee extensor moments potentially creating higher mechanical stress at those joints compared to treadmill walking.
The results of this study suggest that greater caution is necessary when recommending EE for clients. The researchers recommend that muscle strength and joint function be evaluated prior to using EE to reduce and avoid injuries.
Lu, T.W. et al (2007) Joint loading in the lower extremities during elliptical exercise. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 39(9): 1651-8.
Are You Losing Calcium When You Sweat?
The benefits of exercise in the prevention of osteoporosis are well known, but could exercise actually increase the risk by depleting calcium? A recent study reported that men lose significant amounts of calcium during strenuous exercise through increased sweating. To determine whether a similar loss occurs in women, researchers at Purdue University evaluated calcium changes over 24-hours after 60 minutes of strenuous exercise in young athletic women. They also assessed the effectiveness of calcium supplementation in preventing a net loss of calcium over that same time.
Twenty-six pre-menopausal women participated in three 8-day intervention phases: Placebo + no exercise, placebo + exercise, and 400 mg of calcium as calcium carbonate (TUMS ultra) twice daily and exercise.
The results confirmed previous findings in men whereas exercise was determined to have increased calcium losses via sweat. The researchers reported that urinary calcium excretion was higher during the calcium supplementation phase. This is suggested to represent higher net calcium absorption. In addition, urinary calcium excretion was unaltered with exercise. Hence, the body does not appear to compensate for calcium losses via sweating. The most important and practical finding was that net calcium retention was positive only when exercise was supported with calcium supplementation.
It remains questionable whether additional calcium over and above the daily recommendation of 1,000-1,500mg is appropriate, as this study controlled calcium intake minus supplementation well below this value. However, this study does validate the importance of maintaining adequate calcium intake to support potential exercise losses.
Martin, B.R., et al (2007) Exercise and calcium supplementation: effects on calcium homeotasis in sportswomen. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 39(9):1481-6.
What should a Buddhist eat?
Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian; the Dalai Lama, the embodiment of compassion, eats meat by his doctors' orders. Clearly, there's more to mind than what is put into the mouth: yet, as long as food remains a fundamental part of life, these choices are a proper focus of spiritual awareness. Every bite of macaroni contains choices about culture, history, meaning -- even the "Nutrition Facts" newly listed on every U.S. noodle box have resonances for us that spread as far as asceticism, sin, compassion, the place of science in our beliefs, and the importance of supporting one's own well-being along with that of others. So what should a Buddhist eat?
- Kate Wheeler, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Vol. IV, #2
Three provocative books on male sexuality recently published by university presses provide a good barometer of the current state of campus gender studies. A welcome development of the past decade has been the expansion of the gender lens to include men, who were routinely stereotyped by women's-studies curricula as they took shape from the 1970s on. These books reflect that broader perspective and also display a more liberal attitude toward pornography, which was assailed in the 1980s by religious and cultural conservatives oddly allied with crusading feminists. By the 90s, pornography was legitimized as a field of study by gay male academics as well as an insurgent wing of sex-positive feminism. However, despite their greater sexual sophistication, the three books under review still retain traces of the old archfeminist censoriousness toward men — or, more exactly, toward the majority of men in the world who do not happen to conform to the tidy bourgeois values of political correctness.
It has been called sperm, semen, ejaculate, seed, man fluid, baby gravy, jizz, cum, pearl necklace, gentleman's relish, wad, pimp juice, number 3, load, spew, donut glaze, spunk, gizzum, cream, hot man mustard, squirt, goo, spunk, splooge, love juice, man cream, and la leche.
There are a handful of freedoms that have almost always been a part of American democracy.Even when they didn't exactly apply to everyone or weren't always protected by the people in charge, a few simple but significant rights have been patently clear in the Constitution: You can't be nabbed by the cops and tossed behind bars without a reason. If you are imprisoned, you can't be incarcerated indefinitely; you have the right to a speedy trial with a judge and jury. When that court date rolls around, you'll be able to see the evidence against you.
The president can't suspend elections, spy without warrants or dispatch federal troops to trump local cops or quell protests. Nor can the commander in chief commence a witch hunt, deem individuals "enemy combatants" or shunt them into special tribunals outside the purview of our 218-year-old judicial system.
Until now.
This year's Project Censored presents a chilling portrait of a newly empowered executive branch signing away civil liberties for the sake of an endless and amorphous war on terror. And for the most part, the major news media weren't paying attention.
"This year, it seemed like civil rights just rose to the top," said Peter Phillips, the director of Project Censored, the annual media survey conducted by Sonoma State University researchers and students who spend the year patrolling obscure publications, national and international Web sites and mainstream news outlets to compile the 25 most significant stories that were inadequately reported or essentially ignored.
While the project usually turns up a range of underreported issues, this year's stories all fall somewhat neatly into two categories: the increase of privatization, and the decrease of human rights. Some of the stories qualify as both.
"I think they indicate a very real concern about where our democracy is heading," said writer and veteran judge Michael Parenti.
For 31 years, Project Censored has been compiling a list of the major stories that the nation's news media have ignored, misreported or poorly covered.
The Oxford American Dictionary defines censorship as "the practice of officially examining books, movies, etc., and suppressing unacceptable parts," which Phillips said is also a fine description of what happens under a dictatorship.
When it comes to democracy, the black marker is a bit more nuanced. "We need to broaden our understanding of censorship," he said. After 11 years at the helm of Project Censored, Phillips thinks the most bowdlerizing force is the fourth estate itself: "The corporate media is complicit. There's no excuse for the major media giants to be missing major news stories like this."
As the stories cited in this year's Project Censored selections point out, the federal government continues to provide major news networks with stock footage, which is dutifully broadcast as news. The George W. Bush administration has spent more federal money than any other presidency on public relations. Without a doubt, Parenti said, the government invests in shaping our beliefs.
"Every day, they're checking out what we think," he said. "The erosion of civil liberties is not happening in one fell swoop, but in increments. Very consciously, this administration has been heading toward a general autocracy."
Carl Jensen, who founded Project Censored in 1976 after witnessing the landslide re-election of Richard Nixon in 1972 in spite of mounting evidence of the Watergate scandal, agreed that this year's censored stories amount to an accumulated threat to democracy.
"I'm waiting for one of our great liberal writers to put together the big picture of what's going on here," he said.
1. GOODBYE, HABEAS CORPUS
2. MARTIAL LAW: COMING TO A TOWN NEAR YOU
3. AFRICOM
4. SECRET TRADE AGREEMENTS
5. SHANGHAIED SLAVES CONSTRUCT U.S. EMBASSY IN IRAQ
6. FALCON'S TALONS
7. BLACKWATER
8. KIA: THE NEOLIBERAL INVASION OF INDIA
9. THE PRIVATIZATION OF AMERICA'S INFRASTRUCTURE
10. VULTURE FUNDS: DEVOURING THE DESPERATE
Symphonie Fantastique is widely regarded as one of the most important pieces of music of the 19th century. French composer Hector Berlioz wrote it in 1830 as a response to being rejected by the woman he loved, hoping to seduce her with the power of his artistry. Your assignment in the coming week, Taurus, is to emulate Berlioz: Capitalize on a refusal you've had to endure; create a masterpiece in rebellion against a repudiation you've experienced; make a thing of beauty to compensate for being shunned or ignored. (P.S. The woman in question, Harriet Smithson, eventually married Berlioz.)
Cold Night
At midnight, in a cold bed, I cannot sleep.
Incense and fire burned out, my tears turn to ice.
My shadow my only companion,
I will not turn down the light.
~ Po Chu-i
'God' Apparently Responds to Lawsuit
LINCOLN, Neb. — A legislator who filed a lawsuit against God has gotten something he might not have expected: a response. One of two court filings from "God" came Wednesday under otherworldly circumstances, according to John Friend, clerk of the Douglas County District Court in Omaha."This one miraculously appeared on the counter. It just all of a sudden was here _ poof!" Friend said.
State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha sued God last week, seeking a permanent injunction against the Almighty for making terroristic threats, inspiring fear and causing "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."
Chambers, a self-proclaimed agnostic who often criticizes Christians, said his filing was triggered by a federal lawsuit he considers frivolous. He said he's trying to makes the point that anybody can sue anybody.
Not so, says "God." His response argues that the defendant is immune from some earthly laws and the court lacks jurisdiction.
It adds that blaming God for human oppression and suffering misses an important point.
"I created man and woman with free will and next to the promise of immortal life, free will is my greatest gift to you," according to the response, as read by Friend.
There was no contact information on the filing, although St. Michael the Archangel is listed as a witness, Friend said.
A second response from "God" disputing Chambers' allegations lists a phone number for a Corpus Christi law office. A message left for that office was not immediately returned Thursday.
Attempts to reach Chambers by phone and at his Capitol office Thursday were unsuccessful.
Moveon.org Planning Mean Limerick About Petraeus
Posted September 20, 2007
One week after excoriating General David Petraeus in a full-page ad in The New York Times, the liberal group Moveon.org today confirmed plans to create what is being characterized as a "really mean limerick" about President Bush's man in Iraq.Rumors of the planned limerick rocked official Washington, which is still reeling from the Times ad, in which Moveon.org cleverly rhymed "Petraeus" with "Betray Us."
"These people have already shown that they are really good at rhyming things," said Colson Slattery of the Republican National Committee. "There's no question that they are capable of creating a devastating limerick."
But Tracy Klujian, a Moveon.org spokesman, said that plans for a really mean limerick about General Petraeus had hit a snag, largely due to the difficulty of finding something to rhyme with "Petraeus" and "Betray Us."
"So far, this is what we've got," Mr. Klujian said. "Hey there, General Petraeus/You should be called General Betray-us/Your views on Iraq/Are one big crock - and then we're kind of stumped about that last line."
Ms. Klujian confirmed that one proposed line -- "Why don't you get off that dais" -- had been rejected because "he's not really sitting on a dais."
Another line, in which the general was compared to Dr. Zaius, the evil orangutan in the Planet of the Apes films -- had been rejected as "too obscure," Mr. Klujian said.
"We don't know what the last line will be yet, but we know the message we want to deliver," he said. "Iraq's in a state of chaos."
