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Monday, February 24, 2014

Vegetarian diet associated with lower blood pressure, researchers say - latimes.com

Vegetarian diet associated with lower blood pressure, researchers say - latimes.com: "A vegetarian diet may help lower blood pressure, researchers who reviewed data from 39 previous studies said Monday.

The researchers suggested that a vegetarian diet could be an alternative to drugs for people whose blood pressure is too high -- a condition known as hypertension and one that is a risk factor for heart disease and other problems.  About a third of Americans have high blood pressure.

Seven clinical trials, with 311 participants, and 32 observational studies, including 21,604 people, were analyzed by researchers from Japan and the Physicans Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, which advocates for plant-based diets.

Blood pressure is usually expressed in terms of the systolic pressure over diastolic pressure and is measured in millimeters of mercury. For most people, a reading of 120/80 or less is considered normal."



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Sunday, February 23, 2014

Not a Banana Republic

Banana price war requires government intervention, says Fairtrade Foundation | Global development | The Guardian: "The Fairtrade Foundation is calling on the government to intervene in a banana price war in supermarkets that is putting pressure on suppliers and ,it claims, could lead to shortages.

The foundation, which aims to protect farmers in developing countries, says the price of bananas in UK supermarkets has nearly halved in the past 10 years to just 11p, while farmers at the same time have seen costs double.

The fall in the price of bananas, 5bn of which are eaten the UK every year, comes despite a rise in the price of other staple foods such as bread, eggs, milk and sugar, of 79% an average.

The policy director at the Fairtrade Foundation, Barbara Crowther, said: "If prices don't deliver long-term sustainability in the industry, that's not just bad for producers, it's bad for consumers because we could see much higher prices or shortages in the long term."

The foundation's chief executive, Michael Gidney, compared the price of a banana that has been shipped in from the Caribbean or Central America to the 20p paid for an apple grown in Britain."



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Friday, February 21, 2014

Beijing- Orange Air

Beijing raises pollution alert to orange for first time as heavy smog blankets capital — RT News: "Beijing raised its four-tiered smog alert system to 'orange' for the first time on Friday as heavy smog was forecast to roll into the city for the next three days. Officials have urged people to stay indoors and use public transport.

When Beijing’s Air Quality Index (AQI) readings went above 300 micrograms per cubic meter on Friday – more than ten times the level considered safe by the World Health Organization (WHO) – the orange warning level was brought into effect.

The category, which is the second-highest after 'red,' advises schools to cancel outside sports classes and states that children and elderly should stay indoors. Residents are also advised to leave their cars at home. The 'orange' alert falls short of ordering schools to close and prohibiting government vehicles from using the roads – those provisions come into force under the red alert."



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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

When elephants get sad: a touching tale

When elephants get sad: a touching tale: ""I think the genital touching, in combination with other touches, specifically in this context, serves to reassure the other elephant," Plotnik said. "We also see the elephants put their trunks into each others' mouths, which seems to be a way of saying, 'I'm here to help you."'

Consoling behaviours are rare in the animal kingdom. Humans, great apes, dogs and some birds are known to attend to peers in distress, scientists say.

"With their strong social bonds, it's not surprising that elephants show concern for others," said co-author Frans de Waal, a professor of primate behaviour at Emory University in Atlanta."



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Sunday, February 16, 2014

AFP: Jet stream shift could prompt harsher winters: scientists

AFP: Jet stream shift could prompt harsher winters: scientists: "Chicago — A warmer Arctic could permanently affect the pattern of the high-altitude polar jet stream, resulting in longer and colder winters over North America and northern Europe, US scientists say.
The jet stream, a ribbon of high altitude, high-speed wind in northern latitudes that blows from west to east, is formed when the cold Arctic air clashes with warmer air from further south.
The greater the difference in temperature, the faster the jet stream moves.
According to Jennifer Francis, a climate expert at Rutgers University, the Arctic air has warmed in recent years as a result of melting polar ice caps, meaning there is now less of a difference in temperatures when it hits air from lower latitudes.
"The jet stream is a very fast moving river of air over our head," she said Saturday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science."



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Friday, February 14, 2014

Year-end contributions

Beware the End-of-Year 401(k) Match - NYTimes.com: "Not many companies have adopted these so-called last-day rules so far. As of the end of 2011, just 7 percent of clients at the benefits consulting firm Mercer deposited their 401(k) matches annually. Aon Hewitt’s 2013 study put the number at 8 percent. The latest Plan Sponsor Council of America survey puts the figure at 17 percent.

Last-day rules tend to be a bit more popular among banks. There, however, it may not hurt employees quite as much, since employees tend not to walk out under their own power until after they’ve gotten their year-end bonus. If they hang around long enough to cash that check, their match will have already cleared. (Midyear retirees usually get their matches as well.)

IBM generated a fair bit of attention in late 2012 when it adopted a last-day rule, and a couple of United States senators tried to pressure it into reversing its move. It refused, and it was hard to make IBM the boogeyman given that its 401(k) match is extremely generous compared with most other companies. It also offers free comprehensive financial planning to employees, something more employers ought to offer."



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Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Vehicle dependability takes first fall since 1998 - pressofAtlanticCity.com: Business

Vehicle dependability takes first fall since 1998 - pressofAtlanticCity.com: Business: "J.D. Power, a California-based ratings and consulting company, said engine issues accounted for most of the increase in problems reported by the original owners of cars and trucks from the 2011 model year. Owners reported an average of 133 problems per 100 vehicles, up from 126 problems a year ago. Only problems within the prior 12 months are counted.
Automakers are rapidly implementing new engine technology to save fuel, including direct fuel injection and turbocharging, stop-start systems that automatically shut cars down at traffic lights and transmissions with higher gears. But those more complex systems can cause problems. David Sargent, J.D. Power's vice president of global automotive, said the company saw an increase in complaints about engine hesitation, rough transmission shifts and lack of power."



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Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Brilliant Frank McNally piece

Making an exhibition of ourselves - Heritage News | The Irish Times - Wed, Feb 12, 2014: "Home crowds can also intimidate referees. Or at least they have to try. A big theme of the run-up to last Saturday’s game, in fact, was Ireland’s historically difficult relationship with the English referee, Wayne Barnes, who was portrayed as a whistle-blowing microcosm of the 800 Years of Oppression.
As a result, early in the game, he was booed like a pantomime villain. Any decision favouring Wales was greeted as grounds for appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. The animosity only eased when, gradually, it became obvious that the home team’s orchestration of the game extended even to the ref, who was being played like a violin.
Music is not the most apt analogy here, I know. The big buzz-phrase in rugby lately comes instead from another branch of the arts. Hence, before the game, coaching staff referred repeatedly to the need to “paint the right pictures” for Barnes: ie let him see that the Irish players were complying with the rules at all times."



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Monday, February 10, 2014

Coffee, Caffeine, Children- 3Cs

KEYC - Mankato News, Weather, Sports - - Study Finds Kids Consume a Lot of Caffeine: "New research shows most children consume some caffeine every day.

But where that caffeine comes from may surprise you.

Almost 75 percent of children have caffeine every day, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"About three out of 4 children do report consuming some caffeine on any given day and that has not changed over time," says Study author Dr. Amy Branum. "We were surprised to learn how much coffee and energy drinks were contributing."

Experts say that's concerning because coffee and energy drinks can contain much higher amounts of caffeine than soda and iced tea.

For example, a six–ounce cup of coffee has twice the amount of caffeine as a can of soda.

Research shows older kids and teens get most of their caffeine from soda, for children up to age 5, tea is most common then soda."



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Saturday, February 08, 2014

Pushing back against Pseudo-corporate government

Panel says wolf plan used unproven science | Walla Walla Union-Bulletin: "A scientific review says the U.S. government’s bid to lift federal protections for gray wolves across most of the Lower 48 states is based on unproven claims about their genetics.

#The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service peer review panel released its report Friday. It represents a significant setback for the pending proposal to take gray wolves off the endangered species list except in the desert Southwest.

#The scientists determined there was insufficient evidence to support government claims that the Northeast and Midwest were home to a different species than the gray wolf found in the Rockies and Great Lakes.

#The historical absence of gray wolves would make its recovery unnecessary in those areas.

#Protections were previously lifted and wolf hunting is allowed in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes, where the predators have rebounded from near-total extermination last century."



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Friday, February 07, 2014

Neknominations - booze and lose

Social media should not be blamed for people’s stupid behaviour - Social Affairs & News from Ireland & Abroad | The Irish Times - Fri, Feb 07, 2014: "A great confederacy of dunces has taken to social media in recent weeks to dare and double dare each other to eat their own goldfish, flush their heads down toilets, perform enemas on themselves in the name of fun and put their lives and the lives of others at varying degrees of risk while downing sometimes toxic levels of booze.
The concept of neknominations is, by any measure, profoundly and depressingly stupid but its idiocy has been amplified by the shrieks of befuddled dismay coming from Official Ireland since it first heard tell of the word a little over a week ago."



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Thursday, February 06, 2014

Velcro

Novel materials inspired by burr, tooth and seashells - The Hindu: "Velcro is the first well-known man-made device or material that was inspired by what is seen in biology. Plants and animals contain various curious structures and devices in their body which help them in their daily life. For the cockleburr and similar plants (we have them in India, called Banokra, Chota Dhatura, Marulam Athangi), the burr is a transportable seed bag which is dispersed across the land by the animal it sticks to. And for man it became an inspiration to invent a fastening device.

Biology has inspired many such human inventions and we now have an emerging field termed bio-inspired material science. Universities and R &D centers across the world have set up laboratories where scientists study the unusual (and clever) materials and devices that are built into or made by plant and animal bodies, try understand and mimic or model them and create new materials of unusual properties."



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Wednesday, February 05, 2014

grades and learning

A Solution for Bad Teaching - NYTimes.com: "Creating more full-time research professorships could combat the decline of research productivity post-tenure, as many productive professors see their nonteaching time consumed by administrative responsibilities. If research professors didn’t teach, administrative duties wouldn’t impede their work.

A teaching-only tenure track would be for professors who excel in communicating knowledge. Granting tenure on the basis of exemplary teaching would be a radical step for research universities but it might improve student learning. In a recent landmark study at Northwestern, students learned more from professors who weren’t on the tenure track. When students took their first course in a subject with a professor who didn’t do research, they got significantly better grades in their next class in that subject."



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Monday, February 03, 2014

Alcohol, smoking and obesity fuel 'alarming' global cancer surge | Society | The Guardian

Alcohol, smoking and obesity fuel 'alarming' global cancer surge | Society | The Guardian: "A global drive to tackle the causes of cancer linked to lifestyle, such as alcohol abuse, sugar consumption and obesity, has been urged on Monday by the World Health Organisation as it predicted the number of new cases could soar 70% to nearly 25 million a year over the next 20 years.

Half of these cases are preventable, says the UN's public health arm in its World Cancer Report, because they are linked to lifestyle. It is implausible to think we can treat our way out of the disease, say the authors, arguing that the focus must now be on preventing new cases.

Even the richest countries will struggle to cope with the spiralling costs of treatment and care for patients, and the lower income countries, where numbers are expected to be highest, are ill-equipped for the burden to come."



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Sunday, February 02, 2014

CrossFit: enough to make one vomit

CrossFit: the new fitness craze has a lot to tell us about late western capitalism | Eleanor Robertson | Comment is free | theguardian.com: "If you're the kind of person who keeps abreast of fitness trends or is at all interested in rubbernecking at the absurd extremes of human behaviour, you've probably heard of CrossFit. CrossFit, according to the official description, is "constantly varied functional movements executed at high intensity across broad modal and time domains". This is CrossFit speak for "running, jumping, and lifting things until you vomit or make it through to a higher astral plane based on the mind-cleansing properties of extreme pain".

Back in the day if you wanted to get fit, all you had to do was throw on some Howard-style trackie dacks and take the dog down the park to scare some children. But since the exercise revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, we've seen a succession of hilarious fitness trends. "



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Saturday, February 01, 2014

Cleveland, Leave land

United Airlines axing its hub in Cleveland: "Cleveland is the latest airline hub to get sent to the chopping block.

United Airlines will drop the hub from its route network, a move that will mean significant flight cutbacks and the loss of about 470 jobs at Cleveland's Hopkins International Airport.

TV station WKYC of Cleveland confirmed the move Saturday evening, saying United CEO Jeff Smisek revealed the news in a Saturday letter to United's Cleveland employees."



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California - tech rich water zilch

Calif. Cutting off major water supply amid drought | www.palmbeachpost.com: "California's drought situation has gone from bad to worse as state officials announced Friday water supplies will be cut off to agencies that supply millions of residents.
KCBS calls the move "unprecendented" and reports more than 25 million Californians will have a significant part of their water supply cut. Other resources for parts of California include ground and river waters.
According to KTTV, the State Water Project is cutting out its water distribution for the first time in its history in a move to conserve the little water it has left as the state's drought continues to get worse.
This cutback means Californians will still have drinking water, but they'll be getting it from different sources."



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