Friday, March 30, 2007

Speedlinking 3/30/07

Quote of the day:

"Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it."
~ George Bernard Shaw

Image of the day:


BODY
~ 7 Simple Analogies -- "Eric Cressey is like a Swiss cheese in a sea of Gorgonzola... oh, forget it. We were trying to come up with an analogy that was at least half as good as the training analogies Eric uses in this article, but we failed. Luckily, Eric was spot on."
~ Organic Is Healthier: Kiwis Prove That Green Is Good -- "In one of the most comprehensive and definitive studies of its kind to date, a team of researchers at the University of California, Davis have proven that organically grown kiwifruit contain more health-promoting factors than those grown under conventional conditions."
~ Cancer-Fighting Foods, Supplements Explored In Day-Long Symposium -- "Researchers worldwide are discovering a cornucopia of compounds in foods and dietary supplements that show promise for preventing cancer. More than a dozen research papers on this topic was presented during a one-day symposium, "Natural Products, Diets and Cancer Prevention," at the 233rd national meeting of the American Chemical Society."
~ Low-Carb Love -- "If you're hubby's getting tubby or you want your bf to buff up, check out our tips on getting your man to work out more."
~ Green Tea May Prevent HIV Infection -- "A US and UK joint study suggests that drinking green tea may help to prevent HIV infection."
~ FDA Advisers OK Prostate Cancer Vaccine -- "Federal health advisers have endorsed an experimental vaccine to treat advanced prostate cancer as safe and effective...."
~ Activity protects against repetitive strain injury -- "Being physically active outside of work may protect against work-related repetitive strain injury, researchers from Canada report." Also good advice for the weekend athlete.
~ Low-cal ketogenic diet slows brain cancer in mice -- "A calorically restricted ketogenic diet decreases the growth of malignant brain tumors in laboratory mice, according to an online report in the journal Nutrition & Metabolism." Ketogenic means no carbs (less 25 grams a day), a fast way to lose weight if you have the will-power. The diet probably staved the tumor.


PSYCHE
~ Cherishing Differences -- "How similar do we have to be to have a successful relationship? What should I do if my partner is completely different than am I?"
~ Do Women Enjoy Chocolate More Than Sex? -- This AlterNet article rips Joan Sewell, who would rather eat chocolate than have sex (I'd Rather Eat Chocolate: Learning to Love My Low Libido) a much needed new one.
~ Study May Help Develop ADD Treatments -- "New Brain Study May Help Scientists Develop Better Treatments for Attention Deficit Disorder."
~ Brain Pays Attention in Two Ways -- "Different brain parts are used while concentrating and when noting distractions."
~ Erotic art goes for the groin -- "More Americans seem to appreciate a painting that may look like fresh cherries but when you stare long enough, becomes an image of kinky sex." Now that's the kind of study we need more of.
~ Blogging on the Brain: 3/29 [Developing Intelligence] -- A collection of links.
~ New Book Presents Neurobiology From An Evolutionary Perspective -- "A new book, An Introduction to Nervous Systems, recently released by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, presents the fundamental principles of neurobiology from an evolutionary perspective."
~ Touchy feely new age bullshit -- "This type of new age crap bothers me a whole lot. There's always a whole lot of words and ideas but no content or real evidence. It bothers me even more when evidence is used that is so very distal to the actual point. Physics and vibrations?! you've got to be kidding me!"
~ The Mating IQ Quiz -- "How well do you read the opposite sex?"
~ The Biology of Attraction -- "Courtship and mating is choreographed by nature."
~ The Truth About Compatibility -- "When it comes to love and compatibility, experts tell it like it is."


CULTURE
~ Afraid of Aging: 20-Somethings Flock to Plastic Surgeons -- "More and More Young Women Are Using Surgery to Preserve Their Faces."
~ House hearing addresses missing oil and gas royalties -- "The steamiest soap opera in D.C. continues this week with a House hearing on $1 billion in uncollected oil and gas royalties. A cast of star-crossed witnesses testified to the Natural Resources Committee about the forbidden love between the Minerals Management Service and Big Oil."
~ Separate White House Email Accounts Draw New Criticism -- "News that administration officials are buying separate private email accounts to avoid using the internal system, coupled with reports that aides have often used GOP email accounts, is drawing heat from public interest groups. One, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, claims the practice could be illegal."
~ Gonzales' Fall Guy Fires Back -- "Even as he denied claims of partisan meddling in the U.S. Attorney firings, Kyle Sampson cast new suspicion on the roles of his former boss, the attorney general, and Karl Rove."
~ Hirsh: Iran and America, At the Brink -- "America and Iran are barreling toward a collision. It doesn't have to be this way."
~ Oprah's new Book Club pick, reviewed -- "Oprah announced her Book Club's new selection yesterday: Cormac McCarthy's The Road. A brutally violent End Times narrative doesn't seem like typical Oprah fare: The book follows a father and son's journey across a scorched earth in winter, battling cannibal slavers and looting abandoned buildings to survive. But in a Slate essay published last year, and reproduced below, Jennifer Egan glimpsed the novel's tender side." Wow! Oprah chose a "hard" book for the club -- and rumor is that the elusive McCarthy will make an appearance.
~ Some Athletes Don't Want to Be Role Models -- "Student-athletes should not be asked to be role models, a pair of University of Michigan alumni told a panel last night. "Current student-athletes have enough pressures around them," a former football player said. Others accepted the extra role-model pressure as a duty."


HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ Confessions of an Economic Hit Man - John Perkins -- Video -- "John Perkins, as a former 'economic hit man', explains the exploitation of third world countries using government endorsed lucrative loans that go straight to corporate interests and the raping of precious resources instead of development purposes."
~ Microsoft Unveils New Mobile Web Browser -- "Microsoft Corp. has unveiled an early version of a new Web browser for mobile devices that it said will make browsing full-sized Web pages faster and easier on small smart-phone screens."
~ MIT's ocean model precisely mimics microbes' life cycles -- "Scientists at MIT have created an ocean model so realistic that the virtual forests of diverse microscopic plants they "sowed" have grown in population patterns that precisely mimic their real-world counterparts."
~ Chandra Sheds Light on Galaxy Collision -- "Astronomers think that there are enormous black holes at the centers of most, if not all, galaxies. These black holes, which can be millions or even billions of times more massive than the Sun, can greatly affect the galaxy and the environments around them."
~ Endangered Wolves Cloned--Can Cloning Save Others From Extinction? -- "Scientists have created two clones of an endangered gray wolf, raising the question of whether cloning could be the conservation tool of the future."
~ Video: Grand Canyon Skywalk's 4,000-Foot View -- "See what it's like to stand on a glass walkway 400 stories above the canyon floor—video taken on opening day, Wednesday, March 28."
~ Environmental Group Calls on EU To Halve Catches of Threatened Bluefin Tuna -- "The WWF environment group called on the EU Thursday to cut catches of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean by half in an attempt to secure the commercial survival of the species."
~ Boeing working on Fuel Cell Airplane -- "Boeing researchers and industry partners throughout Europe are planning to conduct experimental flight tests this year of a manned airplane powered only by a fuel cell and lightweight batteries...."


INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST
~ Alternative Views on the Radical Transformation of an Integral Salon -- "Joe Perez, one of my integral blogging heroes, and someone I consider to be a good friend even though I don't get to see him enough, has offered some feedback on my post about The Radical Transformation of Integral Salons Into First Tier (read it, and the other comments, here)."
~ Passover - Beyond the Suffering -- From Dharmashanti's Blog -- "Passover is a special time for me. It is an opportunity to connect with my Jewish heritage. At the same time, it bothers me that so much of the symbolism around the holiday centers around suffering."
~ One Mind Village -- "Stuart Davis Interview on OneMindVillage.com, as well as Ken Wilber and Paul Lonely! Check it out, fresh out of the hopper."
~ BLOG: Integral Politics on YouTube -- "An extraordinary 18-minute video of Ken describing an Integral approach to politics has been uploaded to the Integral Naked YouTube channel. Click here to check it out!"
~ Continuing the Relationship Conversation with Bill -- "My first round of theorizing (and again, I can easily be wrong) is that Bill is wrong here. . . ." Ebuddha responds to my post from yesterday on relationships. Nice points he makes. I'll have a response later today or Saturday.
~ At The Woodshed: The attention economy: where artists shall reign -- From Matthew Dallman -- check it out.
~ At Integrative Spirituality: What is Ecospirituality and Why is it Important to ALL Spiritual Individuals?
~ Alan Kazlev at Open Integral on AQAL Journal.


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