Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Speedlinking 9/5/07

Quote of the day:

"The important thing is not to stop questioning."
~ Albert Einstein

Image of the day:


BODY
~ Genetic variation greater than expected -- "Now, with today's publication of my diploid genome in the public access journal PLOS Biology as the first individual genome, it seems to have only increased people's fascination with what it's like to have your genome in hand. The difference between then and now is that many of the questions today center on what you can learn from reading your genetic code and how soon they can get their genomes sequenced."
~ Cooking the Power Foods, Part II -- "Chef Lisa is at it again, combining wild-ass foods! In part one, she mixed blueberries and porkchops! Now she's gone completely mad, actually mixing pumpkins and sweet potatoes! How long will Mother Nature put up with this!?!"
~ Turning On Fat Burning Gene To Make You Lose Weight -- "Tweaking a gene that influences whether your body accumulates or burns up fat may not be such a far-fetched dream for millions of overweight/obese people around the world. Scientists in the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, USA believe that may have found a way of doing just this. They say that turning up the volume on "the skinny gene" could eventually lead to treatment that prevents and treats obesity and diabetes."
~ Study Demonstrates Martek's Algal DHA Oil Improves Blood Triglyceride Lipid Levels -- "Martek's life's DHA(TM) from microalgae is effective in reducing the level of triglycerides in male hypertriglyceridemic patients, according to a study published in the current issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In this study DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) alone was effective, without EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), the other omega 3 commonly found in fish oil, in reducing triglycerides."
~ Seeing the Body as Never Before -- "An amazing look at the body at work, from fat cells to salivary glands."
~ Exercise can help heart repair itself -- "Having a bad heart doesn't mean you can skip exercise, doctors said Wednesday. In fact, it may even help your heart to repair itself. Research presented at the European Society of Cardiology meeting showed that exercise sparks the creation of new heart vessels."
~ Niacin drug controls cholesterol, study shows -- "An experimental cholesterol treatment touted by drugmaker Merck & Co. significantly reduced artery-clogging fats in late-stage testing."


PSYCHE/SELF
~ Neuronal receptor linked to mild cognitive impairment & Alzheimer's -- "Mild cognitive impairment affects many cognitive functions, particularly memory. People with mild cognitive impairment are 3-4 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's Disease; hence, it is regarded as a transition stage between normal age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer's Disease."
~ Tapping into the Fountain of Youth -- "The Fountain of Youth is inside of all of us. To tap into it requires some action on your part, but the good news is that the benefits from this fountain are accessible to all. Will it make a 70 year old look like a 20 year old? No, but it can make you feel like you’re 20 years old, and how you feel is the main thing. OK, looking young is nice too, but keep reading because these tips can make you look younger too."
~ 7 Habits of Highly Ineffective People -- "With a twist to the common list of habits that are useful to establish, here are 7 habits that you do best to avoid."
~ David Brooks Interview -- "Today I’m happy to share an exclusive interview with David Brooks, an award-winning professional speaker and trainer who has taught more than 10,000 business professionals to speak and write clearly, concisely, and confidently."
~ Simple Living Manifesto: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life -- "A simple life has a different meaning and a different value for every person. For me, it means eliminating all but the essential, eschewing chaos for peace, and spending your time doing what’s important to you."
~ 10 Benefits of Power Napping, and How to Do It -- "College students and kindergartens love them. Now, there may be proof that catching a few zzz’s in the afternoon can be beneficial to your health."


CULTURE/POLITICS
~ Kathleen Reardon: Memo To Dowd and the Press: Don't Waste Our Time -- "Here we go again with celebrity journalists assigning derogatory labels and imagined intentions to presidential hopefuls -- and right after the Vanity Fair wake-up-stupid memo to all of us. Dowd got a twofer by attacking Obama and Clinton in one go. She took a strong step toward helping the Republicans while claiming to be disappointed in Obama. If she's an Obama supporter, I wouldn't want to meet his enemies."
~ MediaCulture: The Iraq News Black-Out: How the Press Spent its Summer Vacation -- "Americans are hungry for news out of Iraq. News directors prefer covering Paris Hilton."
~ Jorie Graham: Introduction to the Best American Poetry -- "In her 1990 introduction, Graham explains how and why contemporary poetry uses devices that break the fluid progress of the poem and destabilize the reader's relationship to the illusion of the poem as text spoken by a single speaker in deep thought." This is a classic essay for me -- it helped shape my appreciation of "post-modern" poetry and how it fits into the tradition.
~ 2008's Known Unknowns -- "The 2008 election coverage began so early that voters are already blocking out the static from all the rehashed political talking points. Utne.com takes a look at some events and issues that could shake things up."
~ Thompson Enters, Stage Right -- "While his competition debates, the actor/senator will jump into the race from Jay Leno's couch." How fitting.
~ Bush Admits to Crying in Biography -- "President Bush told the author of a new book on his presidency, "I try not to wear my worries on my sleeve" or show anything less than steadfastness in public." Uh, yeah, sure, whatever you say. . . .
~ Craig Reversal: GOP Shock Turns to Anger -- "Senate GOP leaders, stunned that Sen. Larry Craig is considering reversing his decision to quit September 30 over his guilty plea in a men's room sex scandal, say that he should still step down."


HABITATS/TECHNOLOGY
~ Finally, the New Range of iPods -- "After weeks of speculation, Steve Jobs finally unveils an entirely new line of iPods."
~ Kenyan scientists save Grevy's zebras from possible extinction -- "Kenyan scientists said Wednesday they had rescued endangered Grevy's zebras from possible extinction after an outbreak of deadly anthrax last year and were working to increase their population."
~ Pillar of Invisibility -- "While we are a long way off from the lightweight, high-performance, magical cloak of Harry Potter, Muggle physicists have been busy designing ways to make invisibility possible."
~ Voyager at 30: Looking Beyond and Within -- "A mission that was supposed to last just five years is celebrating its 30th anniversary this fall. Scientists continue to receive data from the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft as they approach interstellar space."
~ Killer Asteroid Traced in Space -- "The space rock that likely doomed the dinos is traced to an ancient smashup."
~ Networks create 'instant world telescope' -- "For the first time, a CSIRO radio telescope has been linked to others in China and Europe in real-time, demonstrating the power of high-speed global networks and effectively creating a telescope almost as big as the Earth."
~ Why Grizzly Bears Rub Trees -- "Odd grizzly bear tree rubbing way of marking scent, communicating."


INTEGRAL/BUDDHIST
~ Body watching and remembering -- "In the form of bodywork I am doing, they say watch with the body, and allow the body to remember."
~ Why Trust Comes First -- "By and large, we are chickens. If we had it our way, we’d prefer to know what to do before we start doing it. Thank goodness, then, that life’s lessons show us what we need to learn, despite our preferences."
~ The Universal Religion Part 2: The limits of universalism -- "Religion of course can be very divisive. As Richard Dawkins says it can inspire people to murder others because they have a barely distinguishable belief system. I don't agree with Dawkins that religion itself is a primary cause of violence, it is simply one more label by which we define tribal in-groups and out-groups - any ideology or physical difference will do just as well. In religion, emphasising commonality can bring people together, while emphasising difference has a danger of increasing hostility. On the other hand, by lumping everything together and glibly saying that it is all the same, we can muddy the water and distort the meaning of religions. And even if we can help bring religions together we do so at the risk of defining an in-group of religious people and an out-group of non-religions people."
~ The World Without Us -- "Alan Weisman's The World Without Us is a book-long exercise in "what if..." Specifically, it asks, and answers, what if the human species immediately and completely vanished from the Earth, today. The answer he provides is neither tedious nor depressing, in part because Weisman infuses the book with a ton of interesting, even astonishing information, and in part because he keeps changing the setting of the future scenario to show that the answer is not at all simple."
~ An important job for anyone we look up to: be flawed -- "Whenever we look up to someone, a few different things may be going on. One is projections of qualities alive in our awareness which don’t fit into our identity, so must be happening with someone else. Another person may be more awake, more clear, more insightful, have an open heart, and more, and whenever I see that in someone else, it means it is also right here, although not noticed much yet."
~ Buddhism-informed versus Buddhist-inspired blogging -- "Although I do not recall articulating it before, I have increasingly been interested in blogging that had more to do with the spirit of Buddhism than with the language or topics commonly associated with Buddhism (at least in the West). That is, if I come across something from a Christian or Sufi or what have you that produces an inspiration or revelation or other reaction affirming or enlivening the spiritual insights that Buddhism (as well as other faiths) encourages, such as an expansiveness of the heart and the virtues that accompany such a change, I would rather read that than another account of rediscovering the myriad levels of subtle interplay between Buddhist concepts and the profound philosophical implications that come from such reflection."
~ My Life , My Practice: Reflections of a Contemporary Yogi -- "I have been teaching yoga since 1994, which is the same year that I first came across Ken Wilber’s work. My exploration of both understanding his evolving model and developing my own ILP has been interwoven with my approach to teaching and my one-on-one bodywork/counseling sessions. But let's begin at the beginning."


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