When Giving Up is Good for You

clipped from lifehacker.com Quitting may very well be good for your health, according to a study reported on by the Association for Psychological Science. ...the psychologists followed teenagers for a full year. Over that time, individuals who did not persist obtaining hard- to-reach goals had much lower levels of a protein called CRP, an indicator of bodily inflammation. Inflammation has recently been linked to several serious diseases, including diabetes and heart disease, suggesting that healthy but overly tenacious teens may already be on the road toward chronic illness later in life. The lesson isn't necessarily a new one: know when to cut your losses. The upside to the study for those less willing to give up on goals easily is that of the participants who did quit, those who were more willing to set and re-engage in new goals had more sense of purpose. So just because it can be good for you to give up on a goal, that doesn't mean it's time to give up on tough goals altogether.

Ways to save money

clipped from www.off-grid.net 50 ways to save money In the excellent Penny Pincher’s Book seasoned savers John and Irma Mustoe share their innovative (and sometimes eccentric) tips: 4 Plant lettuce seeds. A 15g packet of seeds produces about 2,000 lettuces and costs about the same as a single lettuce in shops. 5 Cut your speed from 70mph to 60 mph for a petrol saving of about 15 per cent. 6 The bags inside cereal boxes are excellent for storing bread and for using in the freezer. 12 Keep sliced bread in the freezer. It thaws in seconds, so take out only what you need. 14 Toothpaste is not one of life’s necessities. Brush your teeth with bicarbonate of soda or half soda/half salt. 22 For a cheap mouthwash, use one tablespoon of vinegar in a glass of water. 23 Honey is antiseptic. Spread a little over shaving nicks. 24 Aloe vera is a miracle plant. Keep one in the kitchen for breaking off a leaf and squeezing the juice onto burns or insect bites. Sell clutter. Change a 100W light bulb to a 60W Egg white makes an excellent glue

can't clip them all, a lot more interesting tips there

Alternative Medicine

clipped from diabetes.webmd.com A health treatment that is not classified as standard western medical practice is referred to as "alternative." Alternative therapy encompasses a variety of disciplines that include everything from diet and exercise to mental conditioning and lifestyle changes. Examples of alternative therapies include acupuncture, guided imagery, chiropractic treatments, yoga, hypnosis, biofeedback, aromatherapy, relaxation, herbal remedies, massage and many others.

Smooth or Rough, It's all good!

clipped from www.nature.com Special Issue on the Endoplasmic Reticulum This special issue features a collection of reviews on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), dysfunction of which has been implicated in multiple major human diseases, including diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases. These reviews provide unique insights into the physiological role of, and the mechanisms behind, the endoplasmic reticulum stress response, as well as possible targets for the treatment of human diseases involving ER stress.

I have always been fascinated with the endoplasmic reticulum, and scientists are finding out that problems in that part of cells can cause disease.

Diabetics try new 'round the clock' sensor

clipped from www.mail.com By LAURAN NEERGAARD Diabetes care is undergoing a transformation: Thousands of patients are switching from a few finger-pricks a day to track their disease to new sensors that keep guard around the clock. The last six months brought boosts to the technology, as federal health officials approved children's use of a sensor that works for three days in a row -- and cleared the longest-lasting version yet, a seven-day model, for adults. The ultimate goal is to create an "artificial pancreas," pairing such sensors with implanted pumps that would automatically dispense insulin to make a diabetic's blood sugar better resemble a healthy person's. For now, the hope is that these under-the-skin sensors will empower the most vulnerable patients who require insulin injections -- to make changes that better control their disease. Perhaps more important, they come with alarms that can sound in time to avoid dangerously high or low blood-sugar levels. "It really catches problems before they're problems,"

A research director who has used the sensor since 2006, warns it is no 'magic bullet', the trials have been promising. What is being discovered, is expected to, be valuable information, in the development of an artificial pancreas.
The sensor can indicate when insulin injections are needed, development is still needed to make a device that will be accurate for a longer periods. The latest sensor approved will last for 7 days

How to save a knocked out tooth

clipped from www.health-sky.com More than 5 million teeth are knocked out every year in children and adults. With proper emergency action, a tooth that has been knocked out of its socket can be successfully replanted and last for years! The tooth is most likely to survive if it is properly placed back in the socket within 30 minutes of the injury. Find the tooth, and only handle it by the crown (the part that you’d see in a person’s mouth), never by the root. Immediately rinse the tooth (don’t scrub it) with saline solution or milk. Don’t use tap water, which typically contains chlorine, unless that’s all that’s available. If your child is old enough to hold it there, place the tooth gently back in its socket. If your child is young, store the tooth in a cup of milk, or hold it in your mouth between your cheek and lower gum. Go immediately to your dentist or local emergency room.

Hidden method of reading revealed

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk Hidden method of reading revealed almost 50% of the time, each of our eyes locks on to different letters simultaneously. At the BA Festival of Science in York, the researchers also revealed that our brain can fuse two separate images to obtain a clear view of a page. The team's results demonstrated that both eyes lock on to the same letter 53% of the time; for 39% of the time they see different letters with uncrossed eyes; and for 8% of the time the eyes are crossing to focus on different letters. The tests showed that we use the information from both eyes, rather than our brain suppressing one image and only processing the other. Professor Liversedge said: "A comprehensive understanding of the psychological processes underlying reading is vital if we are to develop better methods of teaching children to read and offer remedial treatments for those with reading disorders such as dyslexia."

Online Sources for European History

clipped from eudocs.lib.byu.edu EuroDocs: Online Sources for European History Selected Transcriptions, Facsimiles and Translations Prehistoric & Ancient Europe Medieval & Renaissance Europe Europe as a Supranational Region Albania Andorra Austria Belarus Belgium Bosnia Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England: See UK Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Scotland: See UK Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Vatican City

How to embed YouTube and Google Video without breaking validation!

clipped from www.sampletheweb.com How to embed YouTube and Google Video without breaking validation! By c.k. — 34 comments » So, here’s the code for either one: <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="[INSERT VIDEO URL FROM EMBED CODE PROVIDED HERE]" width="400" height="326"><param name="movie" value="[INSERT VIDEO URL FROM EMBED CODE PROVIDED HERE]" /><param name="FlashVars" value="playerMode=embedded" /></object> Took a while to figure out, but it works. I originally tried the code mentioned in this article, but it kept breaking my site, so I trimmed it all down to the bare essentials. This works for me and my template. Let me know if it does / doesn’t work for yours in the comments. w00t! Share and Enjoy (Netscape is at the top of the post):These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. In: Blogging — September 10, 2006

Wal-Mart: "Every Day Price Frauds"

clipped from www.dailykos.com Wal-Mart's prices are higher than their competitors' 80% of the time. The key concept any Wal-Mart shopper needs to understand is the "opening price point," which Zenith defines as: a very low-priced high velocity item placed in a highly visible spot in each store section. This creates a perception that since the first item is so very low-priced, the other items in the section are as well Comparisons of the price of the other items in each section found that only 15% to 20% of the items Wal-Mart sells are actually priced lower than competing retailers. 80% to 85% of the items Wal-Mart sells are more expensive than other retailers. This is Wal-Mart's "price spin" - creating a strong perception of lower prices Don't believe it, Wal-Mart shoppers? You're not supposed to, but Zenith has done their homework on this one: We did nearly half a million price checks in 300 Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, and national chain grocery and drug stores to find out who really has lower prices.

More: If you think you save money going there regularly, Wal-Mart is playing you for a fool. There is no good reason to shop at Wal-Mart except that you have absolutely no other choice. . . .
PS While we're at it, there's no such thing as the Easter Bunny, you don't get all "A"s if your roommate commits suicide and there were no weapons of mass destruction.

Sleep late! Early rising not good for heart

clipped from www.physorg.com Generations have praised the wisdom of getting up early in the morning, but a Japanese study says early-risers are actually at a higher risk of developing heart problems. The study, conducted by researchers from several universities and hospitals in the western Japanese city of Kyoto, revealed a link between wake-up times and a person's cardiovascular condition. "Rising early to go to work or exercise might not be beneficial to health, but rather a risk for vascular diseases," said an abstract of the study. The study, covering 3,017 healthy adults aged between 23 through 90, found that early risers had a greater risk of heart conditions including hypertension and of having strokes. However, the study also noted that early risers were usually older. A separate study released in June by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that chronic sleep deprivation adds stress to the heart, putting a person at greater risk of cardiovascular disease and death.

I wonder exactly how they did this study. Was there a control group of older folks that sleep late? Surely there must have been some factor that would point to the fact that early risers are not just older. Maybe there will be more details in the presentation this week.

The part about sleep deprivation is interesting in either case. Lack of sleep does strange things, not just to your body, but to your mind as well.

Food Additives and Hyperactivity

clipped from www.cbc.ca Last Updated Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:38:22 EDT The study in The Lancet medical journal, released late Wednesday, confirms a link long suspected by many parents between hyperactivity and food preservatives. Among the additives studied were: E211, sodium benzoate, a preservative used to extend shelf-life of food and drinks. E102, tartrazine, a yellow food dye used in ice cream, soft drinks and fish sticks. E104, quinoline yellow, a yellow dye used in soft drinks, cosmetics and medications.  E110, sunset yellow, a dye used in yogurts and sweets. E122, carmoisine, a coal tar derivative used in sweets and yogurts. E129, allura red, a dye used in pop drinks and bubble gum.

computer virus Part 2

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk Commenting on the attack a Google spokesperson said: "The blog posts are likely from users' whose machines have been compromised by a virus. "We are in the process of notifying impacted users and recommending that they scan their computers and run current anti-virus tools--good advice for all internet users," they added. "The criminals responsible for this spam campaign are experts at exploiting social engineering to propagate their botnets," said Bradley Anstis from security firm Marshal. The spam messages have been changed to capitalise on news events and the viral payload has been updated many times to fool anti-virus programs. Security experts estimate that the group can send out so much junk mail because they have hijacked so many Windows PCs via successive campaigns. Some suspect that the group has infected more than one million PCs over the last eight months.

I have been infected, which is the reason I need to put this in 2 parts - I no longer can cut and paste. It never showed up on any of my security programs:ZoneAlarm, SpySweeper,Spyblaster(did find some compromised sites) SpyBot Search & Destroy AVG antivirus, anti-spy,rootkit detector, Ccleaner, & on & on. I bought a new computer mine was so infected.

Virus spreading quickly -- Part 1

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk Some blogs have been found hosting booby-trapped links Google's Blogger site is being used by malicious hackers who are posting fake entries to some blogs. The fake entries contain weblinks that lead to booby-trapped downloads that could infect a Windows PC. Infected computers are being hijacked by the gang behind the attacks and either mined for saleable data or used for other attacks. The Blogger attack is the latest in a series by a gang that has managed to hijack hundreds of thousands of PCs. many hundreds of blogs on the site have been updated with a short entry containing the link. bogus entries could have exploited a Blogger feature that lets users e-mail entries blogs themselves could also be fake trick people into clicking on links and downloading booby-trapped files using cleverly crafted messages. Some pose as YouTube links others claim to be looking for testers of software packages or digital greetings cards.

Read this and Part 2

temporary boredom relief

clipped from www.blifaloo.com Interactive Brain Games Improve your memory, concentration and logic skills all while having fun playing games. Logic & Strategy Puzzle Games Tangram Puzzle Challenge Arrange the four tiles to form the shape that is given to you. Flip it Flip all the stones to the other side in this challenging mind game. Code Breaking Can you break the secret code to discover the hidden message? Peg Solitaire The object of the game is to move the pegs until only one peg is left. Memory Games Classic Memory Game Old-school card matching memory game. Balls & Boxes Memory Game Use your memory and put the balls back into their original boxes. Music Memory Test your memory while training your musical ear with this game. Word & Math Games Word Search Search for the word with a given meaning. Math Search Solve the equation and search for the answer. Quick Math Test your reaction time by filling in math symbols as quickly as possible.

20 Most Popular Poltical Websites

clipped from www.ebizmba.com Over the last few years political websites, representing a wide range of ideologies, have been sprouting up all over the internet many times setting off mini-wars between the editors and audiences of the various sites. This left us wondering which of these sites was becoming the most successful; as gauged by overall audience size? To that end, we here at eBizMBA have developed a non-partisan approach to determine the Top 20 Most Popular Political Websites by ranking them by a combination of Inbound Links, Google Page Rank, Alexa Rank, and U.S. traffic data from Compete and Quantcast. 1 | DrudgeReport.com 2 | salon.com 3 | NewsMax.com 4 | Huffington Post.com 5 | FreeRepublic.com 6 | WorldNetDaily.com 7 | Politico.com 8 | DailyKos.com 9 | TownHall.com 10 | NationalReview.com 11 | Christian Science Monitor.com 12 | VillageVoice.com 13 | RawStory.com 14 | Alternet.org 15 | TheHill.com 16 | TheNation.com 17 | CrooksandLiars.com 18 | InfoWars.com 19 | littlegreenfootballs.com 20 | InstaPundit.com