Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Speedlinking 1/10/08

Quote for the day:

"Dissolve your whole body into Vision: become seeing, seeing, seeing!"
~ Jalaluddin Rumi

Image of the day
:

BODY
~ Fast Food As Family Meals Limits Healthy Food Intake, Increases Obesity Risk -- This seems like a clear grasp of the obvious.
~ Amino acid infusion during anesthesia attenuates the surgery induced decline in IGF-1 and diminishes the diabetes of injury. This is a bit technical, but useful. If I were going in for surgery, I would demand a glutamine and BCAA infusion during surgery and into recovery to aid in the healing process.
~ Scientists Discover How Two Molecules Fight In The Blood To Control The Spread Of Cancer Cells -- "Researchers discovered that a large protein, which forms a protective shield around cancer cells and prevents them from causing secondary tumours, is attacked by a small protein that exists in the blood."
~ Snoring tears into sleep, relationships -- This is a physical issue that impacts every area of one's life.
~ Foolproof your fitness resolution -- "Every year many well-intentioned people fall off the fitness wagon long before their new gym memberships expire. Here's how to keep your plan on track."
~ Eating Whole Foods Are Far Better Than Taking a Supplement -- Yes, but supplements are better than nothing.
~ Digging Into the Question of Male Menopause -- "Drs. Federman and Walford bring together a lot of disparate research that ties into the question of male menopause, and also speculate as to why it is far less understood or studied than its female counterpart."
~ Caffeine Might Cut Post-Workout Pain -- Wooo Hooo!
~ Homing nanoparticles pack multiple assault on tumors -- Cool!


PSYCHE
~ What Does Dieting Mean To You? This is a good question to ask yourself if you are dieting. Examining the interior systems is crucial to dietary success.
~ Sleep problems, nightmares linked to suicide -- "Sleep disturbances, especially nightmares, are common among people who have attempted suicide, new study findings show."
~ Ironically, pessimists are more likely to die early -- Another good reason to develop gratitude.
~ This is courtesy of Blog Around the Clock: The Secret Lives of Liberals and Conservatives: Personality Profiles, Interaction Styles, and the Things They Leave Behind (pdf) by Dana R. Carney, John T. Jost, Samuel D. Gosling, Kate Niederhoffer and Jeff Potter. This is 52-pages long, so good luck.
~ The Anterior Frontier: Prefrontal Cortex -- "Although much progress has been made since neurologist Richard Restack called the brain one of science's last frontiers, the functions of some brain areas remain mysterious. Foremost among these is prefrontal cortex (PFC), a region that is much reduced in size in most other primates, is among the last areas to develop in human children, and yet is active in almost every cognitive task."
~ Neither Is This Is A Narcissistic Injury -- Interesting post on how to cripple a narcissist, if you're into that sort of thing.
~ Truth Serum, LSD, the CIA, and Free Will -- "Watching the movie "The Good Shepard" got me thinking about something: are truth serums real? And if so, has any been proven to work?"


CULTURE
~ School Board Moves Quicker Than Expected to Rewrite Science Standards -- "A new majority on the Kansas school board is moving faster than anticipated to rewrite anti-evolution science standards adopted less than two years ago."
~ Jobs Unveils the Apple iPhone -- Yawn.
~ Newsiness -- "It may feel like looking into the mirror for Bill O'Reilly and Stephen Colbert next week. The Fox News Channel host and Colbert, who has essentially based his comic character every evening on Comedy Central on him, will trade appearances on each other's programs Jan. 18."
~ Dems Resist Bush Iraq Plan -- "President Bush is telling lawmakers he will send thousands more U.S. troops to Iraq's two most troubled regions, in a plan that Democrats are resisting."
~ What Jefferson really thought about Islam. Christopher Hitchens at his best.
~ Why we go to war -- "Want to know why nations go to war? Start with this: 80 percent of us consider ourselves better-than-average drivers. I know, the connection seems weak, and maybe a bit flip, but stick with me."
~ Generation Next -- Andrew Sullivan summarizes the new Pew Research Report: A PORTRAIT OF “GENERATION NEXT”. It's looking good for progressives.
~ Ripken, Gwynn make the Hall -- McGuire didn't.
~ Woman Nurses Abused Lions Back to Health -- "This AP story features a photo of a huge lion planting a big kiss onto the lips of a Columbian woman who rescued him from abuse and continues caring for him alongside a menagerie of other animals at her Villa Lorena shelter for injured and mistreated animals."


HABITATS
~ Bias In Research On Soft Drinks -- What? There is a high potential for research findings into non-alcoholic drinks to be affected by bias from companies providing funding? Nah, can't be true.
~ Supreme Court to examine Endangered Species Act -- This can't be good.
~ South Louisiana Is Sliding Into the Sea -- "A large egg-shape region in the state's "toe" is slowing oozing into the Gulf of Mexico, researchers report, another reason cities in the area are at risk of damaging floods."
~ Gun Club Hunts City Crows in Singapore -- By Official Request -- They'll pay for that. Crows remember when humans try to harm them -- for years. Surviving crows will seek revenge.
~ Pennsylvania's mercury rule blocked, dirty generators multiplying in developing world, and more.
~ Sealy Helps Provide A Bed for Every Child -- "Sealy Posturepedic has committed to fund the building of 200 beds for children living in poverty in Costa Rica." Yeah, it's probably a media stunt -- so what?
~ Attack of the Zombie Computers Is Growing Threat -- The botnets are coming for you and me.


INTEGRAL
~ Sex and the AQAL Model -- I missed this post from Gary at Integral Seattle last night. It's worth a look, and if I get a chance, a comment.
~ Blogmandu Roundup for Jan. 9.
~ Ed Berge on the Wilber and Cohen conversation in WIE: A new moral compass.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yawning over the Iphone? I can't help but tease you a little over that one. Do you have a cell phone and an ipod? And what, may I ask, was your original opinion of those two devices, before you personally owned them?. Did you scoff at the idea you ever would? Did you marvel at the crass, guible, lemming-like consumerism of those early procurers? And now, today?

Kai in NYC

Anonymous said...

And one other comment: sex strikes me as problably not such a good phenomenon with which to introduce people to the AQAL model because, upon reflection, nearly every aspect of it emerges simultaneously, and to no lesser or greater degree, in all four quadrants. His example of finding someone attractive, for example: a personal preference, sure; to a large degree culturally shaped; following also the dictates of genetic predispositions of what humans find sexually attractive in other humans (I know you seen the studies); finally, of course, contoured by what's (that is, who) is available vis-a-vis sheer physical proximity, how near or far you and the lust object are to each other on the "10" point scale (perfect 10 with a barely "3"--not happening), how much wealth and social power--or the lack of it--sweeten or sour the pot. See? But a fun discussion regardless.

Kai in NYC

william harryman said...

Hey Kai,

I agree with you about AQAL and sex -- you made a lot of the points I might have made in a response to his post.

On the iPhone -- I have a cell phone (basic cheap ass motorola model, no camera or other gizmos) that I only use for work (clients), and I have an iPod (a client gave it to me for xmas this year). I resisted the cell phone until I needed one at my last job, which they provided -- and I only got one for this job because I needed to. Don't like it, wish I didn't have to use it.

I do like the iPod (shuffle clip), much better than my old MP3 player, which was much better than my old disc player, which was much better than my old walkman. Now if they could only create an implant that only plays songs I like directly into the auditory centers in my brain, that would be cool.

I'm just not excited by the iPhone. I keep trying to talk myself into getting one of the cool phones with a keypad and internet software so I can blog when I have downtime at the gym, but I like not being ALWAYS connected to my computer.

But then, I tend to be slow to adopt new technology. I debate with myself whether I really need it for a long time -- probably a holdover from the poverty mentality I used to have when I was younger.

Are you going to get an iPhone?

Peace,
Bill

Anonymous said...

Probably five years from now, when the second to last person on planet earth has finally gotten one, then I, too, will--at that point life becomes impossible without it. At the moment, that's grocery money, not to be frittered away on frivolous gadgets!

Kai in NYC