Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Speedlinking 9/19/07

Quote of the day:

"The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men."
~ George Eliot

Image of the day:



BODY
~ Training to Failure -- "Matt Phelps is hugely pissed about the term "failure" and what it really means. He thinks exercise physiologists have one idea while the guys in the trenches, i.e., the guys in the gym, have a different, more realistic idea."
~ Just One Exercise -- "Mike Boyle hates the question, "If you could only do one exercise, what would it be?" To him, it's like asking if Superman could beat the Hulk. Regardless, he gave us an answer that's pretty intriguing." Great article -- I'd have to agree. Now I need to find a way to use this at the gym.
~ Most Brits Will Not Exercise To Save Their Lives -- "The majority of adults in the United Kingdom hate the idea of exercising so much that even the threat of premature death does not get them off their backsides, according to a new survey by The British Heart Foundation. Asked whether they would do more exercise if their lives depended on it, a paltry 38% said 'yes'. Even if you enjoy a healthy weight, inactivity can still affect your health detrimentally, say health care professionals." Emphasis added.
~ Improved Blood Sugar Control Seen In Diabetics Performing Aerobic And Resistance Exercise -- "In a new randomized controlled trial, both aerobic and resistance exercise improved glycemic/blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes. The greatest improvements came from combined aerobic and resistance training.The study included 251 adults, between ages 39 and 70, who were not exercising regularly and had type 2 diabetes." This is true for non-diabetics, too.
~ High Fructose Corn Syrup May Be Harmful: New Evidence -- "Chi-Tang Ho, Ph.D., and his colleagues conducted tests of eleven carbonated beverages containing HFCS. He found "astonishingly high levels of reactive carbonyls" in those beverages. These highly-reactive compounds associated with "unbound" fructose and glucose molecules are believed to cause tissue damage."
~ Many women treat yeast infections that aren’t -- "Only one in every four women who seeks treatment for persistent yeast infections actually has one, a new study suggests."
~ "Low-GI" breakfasts may control kids' calories -- "Children may eat fewer calories throughout the day if their first meal of the day is "low-GI," new research suggests." Adults, too.


PSYCHE/SELF
~ Most men 'scared' of women with super bodies -- "Men may lust after the woman with the perfect body, but most would be too nervous to drop their clothes in front of her, a new poll has found."
~ 'Purging Disorder' Often Missed -- "The disorder, psychologically similar to bulimia, occurs in normal-weight women."
~ Exercise on par with drugs for aiding depression -- "Regular exercise may work as well as medication in improving symptoms of major depression, researchers have found."
~ Gender And Genetic Differences Discovered In Reaction To Reduced Serotonin Functioning -- "Women and men appear to respond differently to the same biochemical manipulation. Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most common mental disorders, and it is also one of the most studied."
~ 8 Steps To Continuous Self-Motivation -- "Many of us find ourselves in motivational slumps that we have to work to get out of. Sometimes it’s like a continuous cycle where we are motivated for a period of time, fall out and then have to build things back up again."
~ This Wednesday: Quiz: Do you know yourself? It's surprisingly hard -- "My friend Michael Melcher, a career coach who used to practice law, just wrote an excellent (and quite funny) book called The Creative Lawyer; he also has a terrific blog. It’s aimed at helping lawyers find more job satisfaction – whether within law or outside of law – but it’s also a valuable resource for anyone trying to understand himself or herself better."
~ Decline In Testosterone May Contribute To Cognitive Impairment, Brain Disorders And Neuron Death -- "A remarkable change takes place in the brains of tiny songbirds every year, and some day the mechanism controlling that change may help researchers develop treatments for age-related degenerative diseases of the brain such as Parkinson's and dementia."
~ Staying Aware: Meditation and the Desire to be Somewhere Else -- "Meditation is not about going blank, being emptied of thoughts and desires, and going round with a vacant smile. Meditation is about being aware, awake, being present with your mind." Damn straight.
~ Do You Have the Characteristics of an Effective Leader? -- "How are some people able to effortlessly lead and inspire others, whilst other meet with constant criticism and failure? What are the qualities that we should look for in potential leaders? If you ever find yourself in the position to offer leadership, what are the factors that will help you lead more effectively?"


CULTURE/POLITICS
~ Researchers Say Many Languages Are Dying -- "While there are an estimated 7,000 languages spoken around the world today, one of them dies out about every two weeks, according to linguistic experts struggling to save at least some of them."
~ Celebrating Ramadan -- "A photographic look at how the Muslim holy month, which began last week, is being observed around the world."
~ The Fighting Monks of Burma -- "How will the thuggish regime of this piously Buddhist country deal with demonstrations by saffron-robed clerics?"
~ The Notion: Senate Fails on Habeas Corpus -- "Today a majority of US Senators tried to restore Habeas Corpus, but they came up short."
~ Environment: It's Time to Build a New Economic Model -- "If there is to be a human future, we must bring ourselves into balanced relationship with one another and the Earth. This requires building economies with heart."
~ Why Bush won't attack Iran -- "Despite saber-rattling, and the Washington buzz that a strike is coming, the president doesn't intend to bomb Iran. Cheney may have other ideas."
~ Which Characteristics Are Most Desirable in the Next President? -- "Of 20 different attributes that the next president might have, Americans say the most desirable would be to bring change to Washington. More than half say it is undesirable for the next president to have worked as a lobbyist or to be 70-years-old or older. Certain characteristics -- like religion, martial history, race or ethnicity, financial background, and gender -- are viewed as neither desirable nor undesirable by most Americans."


HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ Facing the Yuck Factor -- "Recycling wastewater could keep taps from running dry in the drought-ridden West. But first, people will have to get over the 'yuck factor.'"
~ Biologists expose hidden costs of firefly flashes -- "A new study by biologists at Tufts University has discovered a dark side lurking behind the magical light shows put on by fireflies each summer. Using both laboratory and field experiments to explore the potential costs of firefly courtship displays, the biologists have uncovered some surprising answers."
~ Gender-bending bugs take battle of sexes to new heights -- "Sexual relationships between humans may be complicated but they are nothing compared to the bizarre sex life of the African bat bug, the British weekly New Scientist reports in next Saturday's issue."
~ Batters may achieve dramatic increases in home runs through steroids -- "Steroid use by a Major League Baseball slugger may produce only modest increases in muscle mass and bat and ball speed but still boost home run production by 50 percent or more, according to a new study by Tufts University physicist Roger Tobin." I posted this here because I consider steroids another form of technology.
~ Greenhouse Earth: Methane Once Powered Runaway Warming -- "Ancient sediment layers paint a picture of a hothouse Earth 55 million years ago."
~ Fossils raise fresh questions over mankind's evolutionary saga -- "The 1.77-million-year-old remains of three adults and a teenager unearthed in the Caucasus point to a far greater variation in early humans than once suspected, according to a study released Wednesday."


INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST
~ Experiencing Reality -- "If you ever get the chance to see Michelangelo's David in Florence it's well worth a visit. In the Accademia, as you stand back from the statue to take it all in (you have it - from the base of it's plinth it stands 24 feet tall) there's a drop-jawed hush amongst the onlookers. Everyone instinctively whispers, even children... as if no-one wants to disturb this feeling of presence that's here in this moment."
~ Integral Warriors: Embodying the New Masculine, a men's group, Part two -- "This is a very different blog than I expected to write today. Judging by the early lack of enthusiasm around the concept of a Seattle Integral men's group, I expected three, maybe four, men to show up at the first meeting last night. We had nine men show up and they seem to be exactly the right men."
~ An encounter with spiritual death -- "It's been said before. It has been repeated in many traditions and by many voices. Part of the process of spiritual transformation is a kind of surrender or submission."
~ Whither Ken Wilber? -- "My interest in getting a clearer sense of Ken Wilber's philosophical stance on certain open questions about the origin and evolution of life, the relationship between psychological events and physical events, and the relation of science and religion was piqued when I began to notice that more than a few Wilberians seemed to use terms such as "flatland materialism," "quadrant absolutism," and "gross reductionism" to characterize and thereby dismiss from serious consideration just about anything they didn't happen to agree with."
~ America Beyond Capitalism: What a “Pluralist Commonwealth” Would Look Like -- "The schematic model outlined here is termed a “Pluralist Commonwealth”—”pluralist” to emphasize the priority given to democratic diversity and individual liberty; “commonwealth” to underscore the centrality of new public and quasi-public wealth-holding institutions."
~ How Change Happens -- "Meanwhile, people change slowly. We are change-resistant. We change when we have no other real choice. Social change is therefore a complex phenomenon: It occurs only when a large group of people have no other choice."
~ Seeing through anger -- "Negative emotion, we all have them. So whether your a passive-aggressive who suppresses your anger or a rageaholic that let’s fly at the slightest provocation, anger can be one of the most devastating forces known to humans. In it’s most coarse form, it is the source of all violence - violence at the domestic, community and international levels."


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