Sunday, August 12, 2007

Speedlinking 8/12/07

Quote of the day:

"Works of art, in my opinion, are the only objects in the material universe to possess internal order, and that is why, though I don't believe that only art matters, I do believe in Art for Art's sake."
~ E. M. Forster

Image of the day:


BODY
~ Why You Shouldn’t Use Lifting Gloves -- "I used lifting gloves during my first 6 months of strength training. I quit using them because I had to buy a new pair every 6 weeks. I didn’t understand back then why you shouldn’t use lifting gloves. I do now. Here’s why you shouldn’t use lifting gloves." Being single was a great reason for me to stop using gloves, and I'm glad I did (though I have to admit, if I had a girlfriend I'd be inclined to wear gloves again).
~ Drinking Milk After Exercise Encourages Muscle Gain And Fat Loss, Study Finds -- "Part of an ongoing study into the impact of drinking milk after heavy weightlifting has found that milk helps exercisers burn more fat.The study by researchers at McMaster University and published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, was conducted by the Department of Kinesiology's Exercise Metabolism Research Group, lead by Stuart Phillips."
~ Seniors Need More Protein Rich Food To Decrease Muscle Loss, Improve Quality Of Life -- "Scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have good news for people who want to stay strong in their old age: older bodies are just as good as young ones at turning protein-rich food into muscle.A newly published study suggests that a diet containing a moderate amount of protein-rich food such as beef, fish, pork, chicken, dairy or nuts may help slow the deterioration of elderly people's muscles."
~ More smoothies cutting the calories (AP) -- "Concerned about losing the calorie-conscious, smoothie makers are whipping up no-sugar and faux-sugar blends."
~ Fortify your diet with nature's heart healers -- "New plant compounds in these healthy, cholesterol-lowering foods slash your risk of heart disease by 20 percent. What to buy and how to eat them."
~ Does the desire to consume alcohol and tobacco come from our genetic makeup? -- "Alcohol and smoking can be harmful, if not deadly. While the desire for these substances can be due to environmental cues, genomic factors also play an important role. The etiology of these desires is multifactorial and a result of complex interactions with the environment. Adoption and twin studies have shown that the use of these substances is likely to be inherited. Such studies have provided evidence that one`s sex can influence the genetic factors for alcohol and tobacco use."


PSYCHE
~ A psychoanalyst for his age (but not ours) -- "Who killed Erik Erikson? Intellectually, he was once a king, ruling a sizeable empire, but now he's a dead commoner." Erikson might be dead to mainstream psychology, but he remains a critical therapist to those of us seeking an integral model.
~ Inside Intuition -- "Can you trust your gut instincts? A BBC Radio 4 documentary 'Inside Intuition' offers to address the issue. It's on this friday - that's the 17th August - at 11am. Those of you busy or outside of the UK, check the BBC's fantastic Listen Again pages during the week after broadcast."
~ Study Of Brain Blood Flow May Lead To Improved Depression Treatment -- "The usefulness of established molecular imaging/nuclear medicine approaches in identifying the 'hows' and 'whys' of brain dysfunction and its potential in providing immediately useful information in treating depression are emphasized in a study in the August Journal of Nuclear Medicine."
~ Highly Sensitive People -- "Characteristics of highly sensitive people are similar to introverted personality types. Like introverts, highly sensitive people are quickly drained and need time alone."
~ Can This Marriage Be Saved? -- "In a yearlong group exchange, a therapist and several troubled couples examine whether a crumbling union can be put back together again."
~ 5 Powerful Motivational Techniques To Help You Quit Smoking -- "Quitting smoking is an admirable goal. But you can be sure of running into some problems along the way. It is difficult to be persistent when everything you try seems to fail. And many people who don’t realize immediate results from their efforts are easily swayed toward giving up."


CULTURE/POLITICS
~
The Real Liberal: John Edwards is Third in the Polls, But Don't Count Him Out -- "If he weren't rich, handsome and so well married, you might feel a little sorry for John Edwards. Never before in the 231-year history of our republic have the inalienable traits that Edwards possesses -- his fair skin and a Y chromosome -- been anything but a prerequisite for presidential politics. Today, his race and gender stand a chance of derailing his campaign altogether."
~ How a U.S. Credit Crunch Went Global -- "Problems in the mortgage market have had a ripple effect, and the actions by European banks have spooked the markets."
~ Why We Loved Merv Griffin -- "Appreciation: Carson was the cool arbiter of taste. Griffin was your enthusiastic showbiz uncle, who gave an early TV break to some groundbreaking talent."
~ On Language: Cleavage Umbrage -- "The last time the word got this much publicity was more than a half-century ago, in television’s infancy, when the actress and interviewer Faye Emerson unabashedly — and to many viewers, shockingly — broke the buttoned-up dress code of decorum then prevalent. I profiled Faye and her husband, Skitch Henderson, back then for Esquire; she knew that her low neckline led to high ratings."
~ Tiger wins PGA Championship by 2 shots (AP) -- "A season of first-time major winners ended with a familiar champion — Tiger Woods, who seems to win them all. Challenged only briefly Sunday along the back nine of steamy Southern Hills, Woods captured the PGA Championship to win at least one major for the third straight season and run his career total to 13 as he moves closer to the standard set by Jack Nicklaus."
~ What Iowa's Straw Poll Tells the G.O.P. -- "Romney's win was no surprise, but who knew Mike Huckabee was a contender in the Republican presidential race?"


HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ Scientists try new ways to predict climate risks -- "Scientists are trying to improve predictions about the impact of global warming this century by pooling estimates about the risk of floods or desertification."
~ Race Is on to Detect Dark Matter -- "In deep underground laboratories around the globe, a high-tech race is on to spot dark matter, the invisible cosmic glue that's believed to keep galaxies from spinning apart."
~ Google Key to Latest ITunes Challenge -- "Add gBox Inc. to the growing list of online music services hoping to chip away at iTunes's dominance."
~ Scientist's Arrest Stirs Concern -- "Dutch scientist Marc van Roosmalen's success at combing the Amazon for new monkey species has earned him international acclaim and recognition as one of the world's leading biologists. Time magazine named him one of its 'Heroes for the Planet.'"
~ The most moving environmental story of the year -- "Newsweek's Sharon Begley and Scott Johnson should get the Pulitzer Prize for last week's Newsweek cover story, "Slaughter in the Jungle." It was the most moving story of the year and clearly based on truly intrepid reportage. More importantly, I hope it provokes action to stop this brutal global slaughter of wildlife." This story is heart-breaking.
~ Sea turtles make comeback on Texas coast -- "Turtle patrols on the beaches around Galveston, Texas, are tracking what appears to be a comeback of the Kemp's ridley sea turtle."
~ US Slipping in Life Expectancy Rankings -- "Americans are living longer than ever, but not as long as people in 41 other countries."
~ Market Meltdown: Understanding Climate Economics -- "The market's real failure is that it allows for no signal from the future to the present, either from the conditions that will exist 30 years hence or from the people who will be alive and working then. The question becomes: Can we really create a market in which those far-off voices are effectively heard?"


INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST
~ Why This Universe? [Stranger Fruit] -- "Jim Lippard has highlighted an article in the latest Skeptic which provides a taxonomy (below) of answers to why this universe is the way it is. Jim neglected to mention that the article is freely available online as a PDF."
~ Rocky Mountain Lotus Pond -- "Nestled in between a back country road and a sparse cluster of cabins lies a graceful lotus pond high in the town of Estes Park, CO, USA at the mouth of Rocky Mountain National Park. This humble little pool of brackish water with lazy koi fish is dwarfed by the giant, jagged cirque of mountains that tower over and surround it--yet its profound beauty can not be denied. These are pictures that I took upon visiting this quaint, sacred pond community this afternoon."
~ Is Religion Necessary? -- "Please talk a little about the threshold between meditation as mind-training practice and meditation as religious practice. At what point, if any, does it become desirable or necessary to step beyond the not-exclusively religious benefits of focus, concentration and mindfulness and into commitment to religion?"
~ Your Personal Meditation Guide; The Five Faculties -- "The Buddha spoke of The Five Faculties as trackable mental factors to aid in liberation. These qualities can be developed, tracked and, tuned to your meditation practice...."
~ Integral improvisation -- "Reading "Integral Arts Praxis" by James Wagner, it strikes me that the improvisational drama coaching method he describes is applicable to a variety of life situations, including a few that I am currently wrestling with."
~ Defense and fear -- "The more I explore beliefs, the clearer the basic pattern and dynamics become…"


No comments: