At Greater Muscle Strength Associated With Decreased Alzheimer’s Risk:  A study has found that individuals with weaker muscle strength appear to have a higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease and declines in cognitive function.  Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by declines in memory and other cognitive functions, and is also associated with other features, such as impaired gait and other motor functions, depression and decreased grip strength. Cognitive refers to a range of brain functions, including thinking, learning and memory.   “Because Alzheimer’s disease develops slowly over many years and its hallmark is change in cognitive function, we examined the association of muscle strength with cognitive decline,” the authors write. Individuals who were stronger at the beginning of the study experienced a slower rate of decline. Overall, these data show that greater muscle strength is associated with a decreased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment.”

This is good to know.  Another reason to get those 3 lb and 8 lb hand weights out and use them.  In fact, I keep them in plain sight in the living room so I can do a few repetitions a few times a day.  When I walk out to the mailbox, often I’ll take a walk around the block while I’m at it.  When I shop, I park my car at the other end of the lot to give myself another good walk.  I do yoga every day but really like how I feel when I use my muscles more actively as well. Continue reading →

Ah, 11/11 Veterans Day. In memory of my loving dad who returned shell shocked from WWII and his bipolar self just never got over it.

The physical wounds these guys returned with were nothing compared to their psychological wounds.

Know that even if they don’t mention it.

Be kind.

Care.

In 2,000-Year-Old Scrolls, Internet-Era Crime, Jim Dwyer writes:  Early one morning in March, the law banged on the door of an apartment on Thompson Street in Greenwich Village. Investigators had a warrant to arrest Raphael Haim Golb and seize his computer. He was caught red-handed.  Mr. Golb is, or was, a guerrilla fighter in a cyberbrawl over the Dead Sea Scrolls, a war about the origins of 2,000-year-old documents that has consumed the energy of academics around the globe.  He was being arrested for fighting dirty.  Mr. Golb is 49 years old and had 50 e-mail aliases. He used pseudonyms to post on blogs. Under the name of a professor he was trying to undermine, prosecutors charged, Mr. Golb wrote a quasi confession to plagiarism and circulated it among students and officials at New York University. His purpose, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said, was “to influence and affect debate on the Dead Sea Scrolls, and in order to harass Dead Sea Scrolls scholars who disagree with his viewpoint.” Continue reading →

The past few days I’ve been really catching up on my sleep.  I guess my body knows what it needs.  Once again, last night at 7:00pm I felt myself getting sleepy.  So instead of just dozing off in my big puffy chair as i usually do, I got up and went into bed.  I figured I’d be back up before 11:00pm to do some work, but I didn’t get up until 2:30am. I woke up for a few moments every hour or so, but just took note that it felt good to be snuggled in my bed and if felt good to be so sleepy.  Years ago I turned my clock in the bedroom so I have to get up to see it. Since I drink so much water, I am usually up every few hours anyway, but even in the pitch of night I can somehow always guess within a few minutes what time it is.  Turning the clock away was the best thing I ever did for my sleeping room. Continue reading →

In Eight Signs The Recession Is Over, Peter Cohan writes: “I recently delivered a Webinar, Economic Outlook: U.S. and Key  Industries, and got asked a very interesting question — How will we know the recession is over?  With Thursday’s report that productivity grew 9.5 percent while the number of people added to the unemployment rolls hit 512,000 in the last week, the signals are not exactly clear.  But my answer to the question is that people can follow eight indicators to know whether we’re out of a recession. My best guess is that these indicators will not all flash a green light suddenly or at the same time. But if you follow these indicators over the next few months and monitor changes in them closely, you may get some meaningful signs of whether the recession is over. Continue reading →

I read at Gray Hair Cure Available in 10 Years that acccording to L’Oreal, we could all be kissing our gray hairs adieu in a mere 10 years.  The beauty company is working on a breakthrough treatment geared towards ending gray hair for good. They expect it to consist of an oral element backed by a hair care range, and be available within 10 years, reported the Daily Mail. Hair gets its hue from melanocytes, pigment cells that give color to both the skin and the hair.  “When hair goes gray, there is a progressive disappearance of the melanocytes from the hair. While there are still melanocytes in the hair, there is still hope that it could be re-pigmented,” Patricia Pineau, L’Oreal Research Communications Director told the paper.  “Hair is an enigma,” she added. “It’s a fiber, a material with physical properties. It is also a living organ that grows, grays and falls out. How can we fight this? Do we need a physical approach or a biological approach?”  An oral program supplemented with a hair care program would do both, she said, targeting graying from both the inside and out. Continue reading →

Earlier this week, I came across the movie Mindwalk on Showtime. I thought it was funny how this came out in 1991 when so few were ready for the topic of quantum field theory. Yet a scant 13 years later in 2004, What The Bleep Do We Know?! was made and the public embraced it.  (Also see June 2021 Horizons featuring Betsy Chasse, co-creator of What The Bleep.)
Filmed entirely at Mont Saint Michel, France, Mindwalk serves as an introduction to systems theory and systems thinking, with insights into modern physical theories such as quantum mechanics and particle physics.  Below is a synopsis of this excellent and thought provoking film. Continue reading →

Yesterday I’d spent the morning getting my quarterly tax documents ready for my accountant.  While I was making photocopies on my all in one printer – you know how fast those are – I’d pop in to Facebook and update my status, telling my buddies what I was doing.  “I’m almost through the quarterly paperwork for my tax chick. Dang, I send the IRS a bunch of $$. I guess that’s a good thing though. Like it keeps me outa jail and stuff.”  I know if I’m paying taxes, that means I’m making money. I know taxes are a good thing.  I figure it’s like their tip for letting me eat. A friend wrote that it was more like the advanced version of the playground bully shaking the other kids down for lunch money. I laughed “Yes, we pay and they let us live.”  I got the usual comments about how the IRS and the government are doing all sorts of shady stuff, but I’m glad to pay taxes in a country that lets me live in freedom.  Continue reading →