Quote of the day:
"Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost how it feels about dogs."
~ Christopher Hampton
Image of the day:
BODY
~ American Journal Of Lifestyle Medicine Looks At The Health Benefit Of Oats -- "The first issue of Volume 2 (January/February 2008) explores the results of the "Oats at 10 Years" study, marking the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration claim that oats, as part of an overall heart healthy diet, could lower the risk of heart disease."
~ Most Effective Weight Loss Diet Revealed -- "Scientists at Aberdeen's Rowett Research Institute have shown that a high protein, low carbohydrate diet is most effective at reducing hunger and promoting weight loss, at least in the short term. Their work has just been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition."
~ Strawberries May Help Reduce Risk Of Having Elevated Inflammation In Blood Vessels -- "Strawberries are not only delicious and nutrient-rich, new research from Harvard Medical School found that they may offer cardiovascular disease protection. The new study found that those who reported eating the most strawberries experienced lower blood levels of C-reactive protein, a biomarker for inflammation in the blood vessels."
~ How To Beat The Diet Trap And Still Lose Weight -- "We have all been and are being conned by a diet industry that wants us to stay overweight otherwise they would be out of business. Please don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against a company trying to make a profit and good luck to them. But I am not going to keep falling into the trap of diet and gain, diet and gain."
~ Studies link autism to two genetic defects -- "Researchers this week identified two separate genetic defects linked to autism, one that directly causes the disorder in about 1% of cases and a second that may play a role in a much larger percentage of patients by increasing their susceptibility to environmental or other genetic influences."
~ Health Tip: Healthy Habits For Your Heart -- "As American Heart Month, February is the ideal time to initiate the lifestyle changes that can help lower your risk of heart disease. Coronary disease is the No. 1 killer of men and women in the United States, affecting one in four Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, a few simple measures could make those numbers much lower."
~ Whole Grains Found to Stabilize Blood Sugar For up to Ten Hours -- "When eaten as part of a breakfast with a low glycemic index, whole grains can help control blood sugar all day long, according to a study conducted at Lund University in Sweden. A breakfast with a low glycemic index even appeared to improve alertness and mental function."
~ Is An Aspirin A Day Good For You? -- "Is an aspirin a day good for you, and how much should you take? Ten years after the FDA issued recommendations about the use of aspirin for people who have had heart attacks or are at risk for them, it may be a good time to talk to your doctor about the aspirin you're taking. Heart disease researchers say that nearly a quarter of a million Americans each year may be hospitalized with bleeding complications caused by needlessly taking a daily dose of an adult-sized aspirin rather than a baby aspirin to prevent a heart attack or stroke."
PSYCHE/SELF
~ The Moral Instinct -- Steven Pinker -- "The starting point for appreciating that there is a distinctive part of our psychology for morality is seeing how moral judgments differ from other kinds of opinions we have on how people ought to behave. Moralization is a psychological state that can be turned on and off like a switch, and when it is on, a distinctive mind-set commandeers our thinking. This is the mind-set that makes us deem actions immoral (“killing is wrong”), rather than merely disagreeable (“I hate brussels sprouts”), unfashionable (“bell-bottoms are out”) or imprudent (“don’t scratch mosquito bites”)."
~ 60 Percent Of Psychotherapy Clients Felt Therapy Didn't End On Time -- "Sixty percent of private practice dynamically oriented psychotherapy clients felt that their therapy either lasted too long or ended too soon, according to recent research conducted by Prof. David Roe, Head of the Department of Community Mental Health, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences at the University of Haifa."
~ Sexbolt Saturday: Sexalicious Links from Around the Blogosphere -- "Today I was having a bout of multiple-personality disorder and could not decide what I wanted to cover. I mean, sheesh, the opportunities are endless, people. So, instead I found some really hot links for you from across the sexosphere."
~ The Inexplicable Monks: On Second Thought -- Daniel Goleman -- "My earliest research interests as a psychologist were in the ways mental training can shape biological systems. My doctoral dissertation was a psychophysiological study of meditation as an intervention in stress reactivity; I found (as have many others since) that the practice of meditation seems to speed the rate of physiological recovery from a stressor." This post looks at the findings from a study of Tibetan Monks and their meditation practice.
~ Dealing With Introvert Guilt -- "Introvert guilt happens when you crave time alone, but feel embarrassed or guilty for neglecting your family and friends. Here's how to deal with introvert guilt.
~ The Unexamined Life -- "It was Socrates who in 399 BCE said the unexamined life is not worth living. Most of us live unexamined lives. Why? Because that is how our world - generally speaking - is. We may examine our outer circumstances: our profession, our homes, our standing in society, our finances, etc., but we tend not to examine our inner lives."
~ The Black Dog Whisperer -- "Everyone has a natural aversion to life’s difficulties. People don’t want to deal with uncomfortable situations or think about illness. That’s especially so when it comes to the mind and emotions. Illness frightens us. Mental illness terrifies us. Ditto difficult or uncomfortable situations. We don’t like any of it. The black dog brings it all."
~ Culture Influences Brain Function, Study Shows -- "People from different cultures use their brains differently to solve the same visual perceptual tasks, researchers report in the first brain imaging study of its kind. Psychological research has established that American culture, which values the individual, emphasizes the independence of objects from their contexts, while East Asian societies emphasize the collective and the contextual interdependence of objects. Behavioral studies have shown that these cultural differences can influence memory and even perception. But are they reflected in brain activity patterns?"
CULTURE/POLITICS
~ ‘Irreligion’ -- "Are there any logical reasons to believe in God? Billions of people over thousands of years have entertained this question, and the issue is certainly not without relevance in our world today. The chasms separating literal believers, temperate believers, and outright nonbelievers are deep. There are many who seem to be impressed with the argument that God exists simply because He says He does in a much extolled tome that He allegedly inspired. Many others subscribe with varying degrees of conviction to more sophisticated arguments for God, while atheists and agnostics find none of the arguments persuasive." This is excerpt from the book by John Allen Paulos.
~ 'Vessels of Light' -- "Louis Zukofsky has been called the most influential poet you've never heard of. Much like his fellow Objectivist, Charles Reznikoff, whom I wrote about several weeks ago, he toiled in almost complete obscurity, unknown to readers and critics alike, though during his lifetime, he and his work were beloved by many other poets."
~ Review: Melville - The Making of the Poet -- "Hershel Parker, who has given the world some of the most vital Melville scholarship, including a monumental two-volume biography, now argues in "Melville: The Making of the Poet" that he was once and always a poet. Of course, it all depends on what one means by "poet." From the first reviews of his prose, critics were equally swift to deride Melville's thinking and to praise his "poetical" expression. But Parker's aim is to lay the foundation for a sea change in thinking about Melville that has been a long time coming."
~ Was it the Bradley Effect? -- "After Hillary Clinton's win in New Hampshire, pundits have been arguing over whether the "Bradley Effect" contributed to Barack Obama's second-place finish. That's the phenomenon of voters telling pollsters they support a black candidate, but changing their minds in the voting booth. Weekend America's Desiree Cooper sits down with author and professor Michael Fauntroy to find out what's going on.'
~ Jonah Goldberg's "Liberal Facism" Book Brings Historical Revisionism to Comical New Heights -- "About five years ago, I imagine that Ann Coulter, Dinesh D'Souza and Jonah Goldberg went out to a local bar and subsequently got into a drunken feud over who among them could write the most comically stupid right-wing attack book."
~ Our Economic Crisis Must Become the Top Political Issue in 2008 -- "So far, none of the debates are focusing on solutions for the growing economic squeeze."
~ Clintonian Tactics on Display -- "Hillary Clinton’s “Meet the Press” appearance this morning was one of the most overt displays of the old Clintonian attack politics I’ve seen in this campaign. Her blatant and transparent attempts to blame Obama’s campaign for “deliberately distorting” unfortunate remarks she, her husband, and others associated with her campaign have been making in recent days were, frankly, sickening and unworthy of a candidate for high national office."
~ New world disorder # 1: Global Injustice -- "How can peace ever be achieved if people are punished for crimes companies and governments get away with? In several countries, including the most advanced ones, entering politics means getting immunity. Justice is often corrupt."
~ SC faithful still seeking GOP candidate (AP) -- "The faithful in South Carolina are still looking for the Republican presidential candidate who is the answer to their prayers."
HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ Can Detroit Go Green? -- "Gas guzzlers dwarf eco-friendly designs at this year's auto show."
~ Greenpeace: Japan's Whale Kill Halted -- "Greenpeace said Monday it has disrupted the Japanese whale hunt off Antarctica by chasing the fleet's whale processing factory ship out of the whaling zone."
~ Nuclear Energy Revival Raises New Safety Concerns -- "Proponents for nuclear power say new reactors have better fail-safe mechanisms, but many countries hopping on the nuclear bandwagon have abysmal industrial safety records, and even some supporters are skeptical that the next generation of reactors could be foolproof."
~ Gorilla Sanctuary Rangers Blog About Life in a War Zone -- "Park rangers in Virunga National Park, home to some of the world's last mountain gorillas, are on the front lines of Congo's war. More than 120 rangers have been killed in this lush sanctuary over the last decade."
~ Researchers create beating heart in laboratory -- "University of Minnesota researchers have created a beating heart in the laboratory. By using a process called whole organ decellularization, scientists from the University of Minnesota Center for Cardiovascular Repair grew functioning heart tissue by taking dead rat and pig hearts and reseeding them with a mixture of live cells. The research will be published online in the January 13 issue of Nature Medicine."
~ Massive Gas Cloud Speeding Toward Collision With Milky Way -- "A giant cloud of hydrogen gas is speeding toward a collision with our Milky Way Galaxy, and when it hits -- in less than 40 million years -- it may set off a spectacular burst of stellar fireworks."
~ Study: Northeast Winters Warming Fast -- "Earlier blooms. Less snow to shovel. Unseasonable warm spells. Signs that winters in the Northeast are losing their bite have been abundant in recent years and now researchers have nailed down numbers to show just how big the changes have been."
INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST BLOGS
~ Dreams; From Myth, to Reduction, to Transcendence -- "Dreams like this one convince me that the dreaming state has a multitude of purposes, each existing at different levels. The survival school scenarios I am sure are a part of the dreaming reality - the subsistence, the instinct. Going deeper, dreams appear to have an emotional aspect. They are also as Freud described, emotional-based, confrontation with issues and hidden desires. From instinct, to emotion, to ego. They are also spiritual, transcendent and mystical in purpose. A dynamic dance between our instinctual and spiritual nature, giving us lessons, training grounds and transcendent opportunities. They need not be reduced to mere "survival" school scenarios, but embraced and transcended."
~ Time is Not a Factor -- "Don't let anyone tell you how long you're supposed to meditate and/or chant mantras, etc. There is no "one size fits all" in Buddhism. Most days I meditate for 20 minutes because that feels right for me. However, other days I go for 10-15 minutes, it just depends on how I feel and the circumstances that I can not deny in that present moment."
~ Sleeping with places -- "To sleep somewhere, to surrender our unconscious bodies to a strange bed or a spot on the ground while our minds go wandering — how is it that we feel we haven’t really visited a place until we’ve done this? It is not enough merely to have looked, to have listened, to have smelt and touched and tasted, though all these things matter too."
~ Dreams and Visions of the Cosmos -- "One thing I've been wanting to do on this blog for some time now is to make an accounting of a number of “visions” I've had over the years. Many of them have occurred as lucid dreams which took the form of a very elaborate and clear instruction that have stuck in my mind with such detail I can't help but imagine they have some intentional force or meaning. I can't altogether say where the instruction came from, or what it was intended to teach, but I've spent a fair amount of time absorbing and considering them in various ways, and so I might as well share them with others, and see what they might have to say."
~ Is Integral Fascistic? -- "Granted, Goldberg may want to define the word "fascism" to be more embracing, but as Chris had eloquently argued, Goldberg's definition is not even a good definition to begin with."
~ SDi Natural Design reaching tipping point in Israel/Palestine -- "This important communication is from Said E. Dawlabani, Director of Center Human Emergence Middle East. From SDi List. I am appreciating Saids notifcation VERY MUCH, as it reminds me how many people are working day and night in silence, unnoticed by busy media or by the crowds."
~ Enligthenment Interview with Steve McIntosh in 10 Segments -- "Jordan Gruber conducted this audio interview with Steve Mcintosh - an old and dear friend - in late November of 2007. Scroll down to the end of this page to see the comments Jordan left on Amazon.com about Steve's new book on integral thought and theory."
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