2008 November | Dr. Andrew Colyer

Archive for November, 2008

Rube Goldberg Machine

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

Do you know what a Rube Goldberg machine is?
Wikipedia says, “A Rube Goldberg machine is a deliberately
overengineered apparatus that performs a very simple task
in a very indirect and convoluted fashion.”
They sure are fun, aren’t they? Honda constructed one for a
commercial and it’s posted on Youtube. It’s 2 minutes long
and a joy to watch:

Isn’t that incredible? [...]

Multitasking is Bad for You

Monday, November 17th, 2008

Multitasking Backlash
You may pride yourself on the ability to
juggle multiple tasks, said Jon Hamilton
in NPR.com But MIT researchers say
your multitasking is a myth.
You might think you’re doing two things at once,
but in fact you’re just switching attention
from one thing to the next very quickly,
says Earl Miller, a professor of neuroscience
at MIT.
Because similiar tasks compete for [...]

Dr. David Hawkins

David Hawkins - Power vs. Force (Part 1/2)

Send subtitles to brauliobo at gmail dot com David Hawkins - Power vs. Force (Part 1/2)video.google.com

David Hawkins - Realizing the Root of Consciousness ...

Send subtitles to brauliobo at gmail dot com David Hawkins - Realizing the Root of Consciousness, Meditative & Contemplative Techniques Part 1 ...video.google.com

David Hawkins - Power vs. Force (Part 2/2)

Send subtitles to brauliobo at gmail dot com David Hawkins - Power vs. Force (Part 2/2)video.google.com

NPR Music Interviews and Profiles

The Time Jumpers Beat The Time Clock

The Time Jumpers' members spend most of their work days (and nights) playing music for hire. But once a week, these Nashville studio veterans get together to play whatever they want.

Bold Beginnings: The Art Of The Opening Notes

You never get a second chance at a first impression, the old adage goes. At the start of the new year, Rob Kapilow describes how it works for composers, who want to set a certain tone from the very opening notes of their works.

Bon Iver On 'Blood Bank' (And An Unlikely Hit)

Holed up in a northern Wisconsin cabin in the middle of winter, Justin Vernon wrote a few songs of loss and heartbreak. The resulting album was one of 2008's best. Vernon, who records as Bon Iver, discusses his forthcoming EP release.

African Children's Choir Changes Lives

Two dozen boys and girls between the ages of 7 and 11 are halfway through a yearlong tour, in which they'll perform more than 200 shows across the U.S. When they're done, they'll head back to some of the poorest countries in Africa — and a new life. The African Children's Choir aims to rescue poverty-stricken kids by harnessing the power of song.

Blitzen Trapper: Ramshackle Roots-Rock

A genre-bending indie-rock band with a bluesy twang and country-fried riffs, Blitzen Trapper wears its influences proudly. The group's latest album, Furr, has been a favorite of critics, who've placed it on many "Best of 2008" lists.

Iconic Journalist Nat Hentoff Is Laid Off

An 83-year-old icon of American journalism, Hentoff lost his job last Tuesday. Since 1958, he'd been a well-known fixture in New York City's Village Voice, writing about jazz and politics, among other topics.

Baltimore Symphony Trains Disadvantaged Kids

Modeled after a successful program in Venezuela, the Baltimore Symphony's OrchKids program aims to build an orchestra and enrich young lives. BSO conductor Marin Alsop contributed funding, passing along $100,000 from her MacArthur "genius grant."

Aussie Band Rocks The U.N. For The Disabled

Australian indie rock band Rudely Interrupted recently played at the United Nations as part of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Rudely Interrupted, comprised of musicians with disabilities, is believed to be the first rock band to play the U.N.

Disabled Guitarist Finds New Sound In Mbira

For a musician, essential tremor disorder can be devastating. The disease affects fine motor coordination, causing hands to shake. But guitarist Richard Crandell has found a new way to continue composing and performing.

The Pyongyang Concert: Best Classical Of 2008

For WNYC's Soundcheck host John Schaefer, the best classical music of the year came not from new releases, but from the news in the classical music world. The biggest story was the New York Philharmonic's performance in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Natural News

Consumer Wellness Center Announces $1000 Nutritional Grant Award for Corvallis "Farm to School" Program

(NaturalNews) The Consumer Wellness Center, led by Executive Director Mike Adams (editor of NaturalNews) has announced a second grant in its Nutrition Grant Program. The Consumer Wellness Center (CWC) is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to promoting nutritional education. The Executive Director position is a non-paid position.Our Nutrition Grant Program awards $1,000 grants to individuals or institutions that can put the money towards the sharing of nutritional knowledge among children, expectant mothers or other important groups. The grants are awarded based on the number of people that can be positively impacted, the detail of the grant proposal and the enthusiasm and commitment of the teacher or administrator who will use the funds. Each award recipient is asked to report the results of the grant back to the CWC after the funds have been used. Our intention is to then post these nutrition "success stories" on NaturalNews.com so that these records of what works can be shared with the world.Farm to School Program receives $1,000 from the CWCOur second well-deserved Consumer Wellness Nutritional Grant Award is awarded to The Corvallis Environmental Center for their "Farm to School Program."The Corvallis Environmental Center (CEC) in Corvallis, Oregon is a 501(c)3 nonprofit with a mission of providing sustainability education and information to area residents. This grassroots organization is working tirelessly in many, many was to raise awareness about the importance of supporting our earth through practical application projects, such as the support of local growers as well as the proper nourishment of our schoolchildren. The Farm to School program helps local schools purchase and feature locally produced, farm fresh foods. Schools then incorporate these foods into a nutrition-based curriculum and provide students with experiential learning opportunities such as farm visits, school garden programs and produce tasting. In essence, Farm to School provides a model for positively influencing children's eating habits through school cafeteria improvements, hands-on nutrition education and direct experience with real food.By providing food and nutrition learning opportunities to the students, the CEC staff found that students were encouraged to make healthier food choices on their own. The efforts also reinforced the school district's commitment to purchase fresh, local foods -- a hearty win/win for everyone in the community.With the Nutritional Grant from the Consumer Wellness Center, the CEC will be able to 1) Provide six additional tasting tables that feature fresh produce from local farms2) Provide teachers with easy-to-use information and activities about the fresh foods featured at each tasting table.The tasting tables encourage students to try fresh foods and give them an opportunity to meet the farmer who grew the food.In all, this is a fabulous educational and experiential opportunity for a large number of students to learn about real food: Where it comes from, what it looks like, how it supports their health, etc. With the additional $1,000 provided by the CWC, this program will reach 1100 to 1400 K-8th grade students in up to 4 schools in the region, and facilitate fresh veggie and fruit event once per month throughout the school year."We are thrilled to support the CEC's efforts to teach schoolchildren about real food," said Mike Adams, the Executive Director of the Consumer Wellness Center and the creator of the Nutrition Grant Program. "This is the kind of activity that's needed throughout modern society to reconnect children with food and health. I hope this becomes a model of food education that's replicated throughout the nation."The CEC has committed to connecting with you, our readers, by sending us photographs of the children experiencing the events, information regarding the children's food experiences, teachers' feedback and any positive response from the local growers. Congratulations to the Farm to School Program Director, Jen Brown and staff at the Corvallis Environmental Center for your continued and successful efforts to support the health of our school children, the local growers, and our planet! Check out their website at www.CorvallisEnvironmentalCenter.orgNaturalNews also thanks the many sponsors of the Consumer Wellness Center who have donated funds to help us launch these important nutritional programs. Sponsors include Boku Superfood, Global Healing Center, Health Products Distributors, Inc. and others. View featured sponsors at www.ConsumerWellness.orgLearn more about the Consumer Wellness Center here: http://www.ConsumerWellness.org/index.htmlMore CWC grant award announcements are coming soon.

Dollar Store Discount Dog Treats Might Cost You More

(NaturalNews) Recently in a Dear Heloise article, a pet owner wrote she buys treats at a Dollar store for $1 that are "almost the same as $5 treats from the pet store." Unfortunately for this pet owner, discounted dog treats might cost her far more in the long run.The old adage 'you get what you pay for' usually holds true with pet foods and treats. Discount store pet foods and treats are no exception. Typically, 'Dollar stores' purchase lots of soon to be outdated/expired goods for pennies on the dollar, and then sell cheap hoping to retail all before the expiration date. Some discount stores also purchase lots of imported 'look alike' goods. The red flag for pet owners would be Chinese imported look alike pet foods and treats. However, either way, the pet isn't being provided with much of a treat.For explanation's sake, let's say that the $1 bag of dog treats is called Fido's Best Chicken Flavored Natural Dog Treats; the bag contains 20 small dog treat pieces, 20 ounces. Just as with pet foods, it is legal for the manufacturer to make "unqualified claims either directly or indirectly" on the pet treat label; Fido's Best Natural might not be 'best' and probably isn't all 'natural'. Let's assume that the discount store purchased the treats for $.50 per bag. If half of the price is manufacturer labor, packaging, and markup expense, each 20 ounce bag of treats contains $.25 worth of ingredients.Now, if the ingredients cost only $.25 per 20 ounces or 1.2 cents per ounce (about $.19 per pound), how much quality nutrition can this treat actually provide your pet? According to AAFCO regulations, pet treats are only supplemental to the diet; very few labeling or ingredient rules apply to pet treats. So, if a pet food can contain chicken feet and cow intestines and be dubbed Natural Pet Food, just imagine what is allowed with pet treats and what quality of ingredients can be in them. At 1.2 cents per ounce cost for ingredients, you can safely assume the discount treats have only the cheapest left over, garbage ingredients and/or the cheapest of the cheap imported ingredients. Even purchasing bulk ingredients ($380.00 per ton) only the cheapest ingredients could be included in these treats. Either way, there is no actual nutrition provided to your pet and/or your pet's health could be at risk from consuming them.The other concern of purchasing discount store pet foods and treats is pet owners purchasing expired products. Expired treats or foods can make your pet sick costing you far more in vet bills than the savings from the discounted prices.If you're ever tempted, if you ever let the thought into your conscious that it's just treats, they won't hurt anything, even if they're cheap my dog or cat will eat them regardless, just consider for a moment what you are giving your pet. Cheap treats (and foods) can ONLY mean the cheapest of ingredients, the poorest quality of ingredients. Don't be tempted. One mistake from the manufacturer that makes foods or treats using the cheapest of ingredients could cost your pet's life and/or thousands in vet bills. If you need to save money on treats, give your pet green beans, carrot and apple slices, or spoonfuls of canned pumpkin. These are inexpensive and provide your pet with some nutrition.Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,Susan Thixton About the authorSusan Thixton has an international pet people following providing dog and cat lovers a trusted source for pet food and pet food ingredient information. She's been called courageous, perseverant, even "the Caped Crusader for Pets" for her 16 year study of pet food. Susan Thixton is the author of hundreds of pet industry articles and the 2006 released book Truth About Pet Food (currently being updated for a second edition). She developed and publishes the pet product consumer magazine Petsumer Report and is a frequent speaker and radio guest all over the U.S. and Canada with more than 70 appearances in the last 2 years. If you are looking for straight forward pet food information that can have an almost immediate impact on your pet's health - subscribe to the free newsletter, and subscribe to Petsumer Report to see reviews of close to 700 dog and cat foods and treats (adding 40+ each month). Susan Thixton's 'truth' will help you find a safer, healthier dog or cat food that could add years to your pet's life. http://www.TruthAboutPetFood.com

Omega-3s Reduce Risk of Recurring Stroke

(NaturalNews) Higher intake of the omega-3 essential fatty acid known as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) can decrease a person's risk of suffering a second stroke, according to a study conducted by researchers from Toyama University Hospital in Japan and published in the journal Stroke.Researchers studied 18,645 high cholesterol patients and randomly assigned them to receive one of two cholesterol-lowering statin drugs: pravastatin (also known as Pravachol or Selektine) or simvastatin (also known as Zocor). While 9,319 of the patients received only the designated statin, the other 9,326 had their medication supplemented with 1,800 milligrams per day of EPA. Approximately 5 percent of the patients in each group had previously suffered a stroke.At the end of five years, the researchers found that supplementation with EPA did not appear to have any effect on participants' risks of suffering a first stroke; 1.3 percent of those in the EPA group suffered a first stroke, compared with 1.5 percent of those in the non-EPA group. This small difference did not achieve statistical significance.The difference in the rates of second strokes was statistically significant, however, with only 6.8 percent of stroke survivors in the EPA group undergoing a second stroke, compared with a recurrence rate of 10.5 percent in the control group.The researchers noted that EPA appeared to decrease the risk of a second stroke even though the study was carried out in Japan, where a diet high in oily fish leads most people to have relatively high blood levels of EPA to begin with. This suggests that "further increases in EPA concentration may lead to prevention of recurrence of stroke," said researcher Kortaro Tanaka.The current results are consistent with prior research into the benefits of fish oil that has been conducted in the United States and Europe, Tanaka added, implying that "the beneficial effects of EPA which became clear from our study can be applied to other nationalities."Sources for this story include: www.reuters.com.

Dr. Andrew Colyer

Life, Health, Music, Consiousness, and New Media

Archive for November, 2008

Rube Goldberg Machine

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