Fancy Al Cath

Gmail's new Priority Inbox

2010-09-17T15:11:00.000-04:00

Priority Inbox overview

This is a GREAT new Gmail feature.
My advice: don't question it - just do it.

Flying car by 2010: Now that's what I'm talkin' about...

2008-01-12T02:02:00.000-05:00

If this isn't exactly what I've been waiting for all my life I don't know what is. I'm pretty sure 155 mph and 12,000' is both fast and high enough; I'll let you know right after the test drive.

Wondering if you should start restricting your kids' use of video games?

2008-01-12T01:43:00.000-05:00

BROOKLYN, NY—Nearly 50 percent of 26-year-old paralegal Philip Jenkins' encoded long-term memories involve button combinations, game-playing experiences, and spatial-cognitive maps of various levels and worlds from Nintendo's line of video-game consoles, a team of neuroscientists reported Tuesday.

According to an fMRI of Jenkins' brain regions during the process of memory recall, his parietal lobe registers the same amount of activity when he hears the word "mother" as it does when he hears the words "Banjo Kazooie."

Half Of 26-Year-Old's Memories Nintendo-Related
Excerpted from the Onion

What happens when Google owns everything?

2007-12-16T01:28:00.000-05:00

Top 10 things everyone loves:

1) Tom Hanks
2) Ellen Degeneris
3) Anthony Hopkins
4) Jodi Foster
5) Kettle Popcorn
6) Cheesecake
7) Fireworks
8) Victoria's Secret Anything
9) Arnold movies
10) Google

Check out this blog for a view of the future in a Google regime...

2 Rubik's cubes at once.... !!!

2007-10-26T01:44:00.001-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW3akfdEGI8

7 benefits of regular physical activity

2007-10-26T01:36:00.000-04:00

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/HQ01676

Need motivation to exercise? Here are seven ways exercise can improve your life — starting today!

Want to feel better, have more energy and perhaps even live longer? Look no further than old-fashioned exercise.

The merits of exercise — from preventing chronic health conditions to boosting confidence and self-esteem — are hard to ignore. And the benefits are yours for the taking, regardless of age, sex or physical ability. Need more convincing? Check out seven specific ways exercise can improve your life.

1. Exercise improves your mood.

Need to blow off some steam after a stressful day? A workout at the gym or a brisk 30-minute walk can help you calm down. Exercise stimulates various brain chemicals, which may leave you feeling happier and more relaxed than you were before you worked out. You'll also look better and feel better when you exercise regularly, which can boost your confidence and improve your self-esteem. Exercise even reduces feelings of depression and anxiety.

2. Exercise combats chronic diseases.

Worried about heart disease? Hoping to prevent osteoporosis? Regular exercise might be the ticket. Regular exercise can help you prevent — or manage — high blood pressure. Your cholesterol will benefit, too. Regular exercise boosts high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or "good," cholesterol while decreasing low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad," cholesterol. This one-two punch keeps your blood flowing smoothly by lowering the buildup of plaques in your arteries.
And there's more. Regular exercise can help you prevent type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and certain types of cancer.

3. Exercise helps you manage your weight.

Want to drop those excess pounds? Trade some couch time for walking or other physical activities. This one's a no-brainer. When you exercise, you burn calories. The more intensely you exercise, the more calories you burn — and the easier it is to keep your weight under control. You don't even need to set aside major chunks of time for working out. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk during your lunch break. Do jumping jacks during commercials. Better yet, turn off the TV and take a brisk walk. Dedicated workouts are great, but activity you accumulate throughout the day helps you burn calories, too.

4. Exercise strengthens your heart and lungs.

Winded by grocery shopping or household chores? Don't throw in the towel. Regular exercise can leave you breathing easier. Exercise delivers oxygen and nutrients to your tissues. In fact, regular exercise helps your entire cardiovascular system — the circulation of blood through your heart and blood vessels — work more efficiently. Big deal? You bet! When your heart and lungs work more efficiently, you'll have more energy to do the things you enjoy.

5. Exercise promotes better sleep.

Struggling to fall asleep? Or stay asleep? It might help to boost your physical activity during the day. A good night's sleep can improve your concentration, productivity and mood. And, you guessed it, exercise is sometimes the key to better sleep. Regular exercise can help you fall asleep faster and deepen your sleep. The timing is up to you — but if you're having trouble sleeping, you might want to try late afternoon workouts. The natural dip in body temperature five to six hours after you exercise might help you fall asleep.

6. Exercise can put the spark back into your sex life.

Are you too tired to have sex? Or feeling too out of shape to enjoy physical intimacy? Exercise to the rescue. Regular exercise can leave you feeling energized and looking better, which may have a positive effect on your sex life. But there's more to it than that. Exercise improves your circulation, which can lead to more satisfying sex. And men who exercise regularly are less likely to have problems with erectile dysfunction than are men who don't exercise, especially as they get older.

7. Exercise can be — gasp — fun!

Wondering what to do on a Saturday afternoon? Looking for an activity that suits the entire family? Get physical! Exercise doesn't have to be drudgery. Take a dance class. Check out a local climbing wall or hiking trail. Push your kids on the swings or climb with them on the jungle gym. Plan a neighborhood kickball or touch football game. Find an activity you enjoy, and go for it. If you get bored, try something new. If you're moving, it counts!

The arguments for not exercising are few....

2007-10-26T01:28:00.000-04:00

If there is one thing I've learned in the Health Psychology course, it's that exercise benefits just about every aspect of whatever it is that's keeping us alive. Research has proven that it beneficially impacts (or reduces risk of):

Weight control
Heart disease
Stroke
Cholesterol level
Cancer
Bone density
Diabetes
Decreased depression
Reduced anxiety
Buffer against stress
Ehanced self-esteem
All-cause mortality

Are you convinced yet? How many benefits do there need to be in order to convince you. (Of course, I'm talking to myself, too.)

The best part is that reseach has also shown that vigorous effort offers no incremental benefit in increased health over moderate exercise. No need to go nuts over this. Just do something (as opposed ot nothing. When do we get started?

What is health?

2007-10-26T00:51:00.000-04:00

I am currently taking a Health Psychology course. Most people I mention this to respond immediately with "What's that?"

This question begets another: "What is health?" The definition of health has changed considerably in the past century. In the early 1900's, health was though of as the absence of disease. This is because the diseases that were most common at that time were largely the result of contact with impure drinking water, contaminated foods, or sick people. The leading causes of death were from infectious diseases (typhoid fever, pneumonia, diptheria, influenza, tuberculosis). The afflicted either died or got well in a matter of weeks.

But during the 20th century, health changed in the U.S. - the leading causes of death changed from infectious diseases to chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic lower respiratory diseases such as emphysema and bronchitis - all of which relate to individual behaviors and lifestyles. These diseases were not new, but the proportion of people who die from them changed. We found out how to deal with the infectious diseases and started living long enough to die of chronic diseases, which can be tied to smoking, alcohol abuse, unwise eating, stress, and sedentary lifestyle. Robert Sapolski (1998) said "We are now living long enough to slowly fall apart." Indeed, in the 20th century life expectancy increased by 30 years, thus leaving us exposed to death from diseases that 100 years ago we weren't living long enough to get.

Although chronic diseases have many causes, individual behavior and lifestyle have an enormous impact on their development. Because behavior is so important for chronic disease, psychology, which is the science of behavior, has become involved in health care. A large part of psychology's involvement in health care is a commitment to keeping people healthy, rather than waiting until after they are ill to treat them. Unlike medicine, psychology contributes to broad principles of behavior which directly impacts health issues and diseases. Why do people exercise... or why don't they? Why do people try to eat a healthy diet - or why don't they? Why do people smoke? Why can't they stop? Why to people engage in such unhealthy behaviors, and what would it take to change these behaviors? Why do people seek medical care, and at what point? Why do they fail to seek medical care? What would it take to change this behavior? How are these behaviors influenced by ethnicity, education level, income level, and age?

These are the concerns of Health Psychology.

Health is no longer defined as the absence of disease. In 1946 the World Health Organization (WHO) wrote the modern Western definition of health: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.", which affirms that health is a positive state and not just the absence of disease. Feeling good is more than just not feeling bad.

In the real-progress-in-robotics department...

2007-02-28T13:55:00.000-05:00

... this short video , entitled "Anybots announces the world's first dynamically balancing walking humanoid robot" is a must see. The inventor is Trevor Blackwell, and Dexter is hardly his only invention. For example, excerpted from his web page Building a Balancing Scooter: "Self-balancing scooters, like the Segway™ are often thought to be technological miracles, but it is not actually very hard to build one. I built the one described here in about a week using off-the-shelf parts. " Later on this web page, he tells you exactly how to build one yourself, should you be so inclined. (I just might be; I'll let you know...). Has Dean Kamen has met his match???

Email signatures I particularly like...

2007-02-24T00:59:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while I find wisdom in an email signature; when I do, I try to keep track of it. Here are three recent examples.

"To be is to do." - Socrates
"To do is to be." - Sartre
"Do be do be do." - Sinatra
(Personally, I'm with Frank. Those other dudes were just guessing.)

"Dream like you'll live forever. Live like you'll die today." James Dean
(Steven Wright's version of this: Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.)

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
(My version of this: I never mind a bad experience so long as it's in the past.)

My Sit 'n' Bull feature...

2007-02-24T00:53:00.000-05:00

... is now behind me. My first Open Mic feature.... and I'm pretty sure it went well. It seemed like you could hear a pin drop, and this is normally kind of a noisy place. The feedback was really positive. Some wanted to know how to get hold of my CD. Alas... there is no CD - at least, not yet. That'll be another hurdle to jump over.

I want to thank my good friend Seth Connelly (the host there) for giving me this wonderful opportunity.

Hmmm. What's the next musical conquest?

Something else you didn't know...

2007-02-19T00:34:00.000-05:00

After replacing Pete Best (Beatles band manager Brian Epstein did not like his drumming style), Ringo Starr had only been with the Beatles for two weeks when they recorded their first single, "Love Me Do/P.S. I Love You". Love Me Do quickly climbed to #17 on the British Pop charts, largely because Brian Epstein personally bought over 10,000 copies!

A quick response isn't always the best response...

2007-02-05T10:22:00.000-05:00

I have always believed in carefully contemplating a response before delivering it, even if it means appearing to be a bit slow on the uptake.

Looks like Mr. Holmes agrees with me:

"Speech is conveniently located midway between thought and action, where it often substitutes for both."
- John Andrew Holmes (1874- ? )
American Physician and Writer and Author of "Wisdom in Small Doses"

Amusing negotiation tip...

2007-02-03T01:12:00.000-05:00

I ran across this today and it made me laugh out loud:

"Always wear a facial bandage or two in an initial negotiating meeting."

Seems like one of those things you'd have to admit might actually have some benefit, but would never actually do.

Tell me something I didn't know...

2007-01-30T02:42:00.000-05:00

...one of my favorite questions, because after all - I get to learn something new right there on the spot. Chris Matthews asks this question of all his panelists at the end of his Sunday morning news show "Hardball". And they always have an answer ready, of course. Would you?

Here's something you probably didn't know: Leo Fender did not know how to play the guitar.

Commuter Cars Corporation Does The Tango

2007-01-30T02:31:00.000-05:00

The Tango Electric Car is a must see. If you're in a rush, at the very least - look at the pictures. It's so cool and so weird - just to look at. To me it looks like an italicized phone booth on wheels (although a phone booth generally fits only one). The Tango fits two (like the dance; hence the name, I imagine).

When will mine be ready?
Phone booth? When was the last time you saw one of those?

2007-01-30T01:17:00.000-05:00

My LinkedIn Personal Profile. Some are skeptical about the benefits of this on line network for professionals, but at a recent MentoNet meeting (mostly all technology CEOs - see separate post about MentoNet), every person I met was on there, and most had a lot of connections (80+). Could all those corporate big dogs be wrong? Best of all, I was able to use LinkedIn to instantly view their CVs. On the flipside, some have told me that they removed their profile because it exposed them to heavy assault by search firms. Could easily be. My current position is that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks,and encourage invitations to connect.

Articles about LinkedIn:
A MySpace For Grown-ups
Ten Ways To Use LInkedIn