Archive for January 4th, 2008

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Science Etcetera Venusday, 20080104

Friday, January 4th, 2008
  • With the Caucuses kicking off, I’m a little peeved at the science sites for not disseminating this info sooner (go figure, they’re eggheads and don’t get political pazzaz), but since a healthy environment is crucial to our quality of life, national security, and economic well-being, it’s important to put the Candidates’ Green Creds to Test; however, Hot Science Topics are Avoided by Presidential Candidates, and the questions they are being askedare laughable, but not in a cheery, make you feel good way, it’s more of a scary and depressing realization, like when you first figured out that George Bush Jr didn’t just look like Alfred E. Neuman, but actually was Alfred E. Neuman.

    • Alfred E. Neuman and George Bush

    What Me Worry?

  • Butterflies trick ants into raising offspring, the energy and time-saving evolutionary trick isn’t just for Cukoos anymore.
  • A LiveScience survey of 1,000 respondents found 61 Percent Agree with Evolution. Thank the Cosmos for small victories… Waitaminute. That’s not a victory. That totally sucks! COME ON PEOPLE!!!
  • How the Earth responded to massive Global Warming 55 Million Years Ago can tell us a lot about what to expect in the next few centuries, and with changing climates, Australians are starting to feel homesick in their homeland because of the vanishing plants and bird species. Australia is the Earth’s canary in the coal mine, a preview of things to come.
  • However, we can’t blame recent North Atlantic warming and the Arctic Ice Melt on Global Warming, as they have both been tied to natural factors. Shucks. I wish I could be more like the Parrotheads and just pretend I didn’t see these reports.
  • Wired Magazine blows great big gapping holes in the Auto Industry’s Arguments Against California’s CO2 Rules. Additionally, the First-ever study to link increased mortality specifically to carbon dioxide emissions has been published, giving California, the most smog-ridden state in the country, all the more justification for regulating.
  • The UK’s STFC funding cuts crisis has spawned websites like Save Astronomy, which highlight what will be lost if funding isn’t restored (HT Kav).
  • Pharmaceuticals claim their high prices fund the development of new drugs; however, the Drug industry spends nearly twice as much on marketing than on research and development! Ohhhhh!!! Buuuuuurrrrrrn!!!
  • Quick! Somebody alert the Religious Right! Daily alcohol use makes fruit flies gay!!! Okaaaaay, that’s an exaggeration, it really just seems to make them bi-curious.
  • Wisdom every child knows: Dirt is Good.

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    Geek Exercise or Body Hacking

    Friday, January 4th, 2008

    I’ve been up and down health-wise all my life. From years of swimming all day long as a child, to years of vegging out in front of the TV in High School, to taking a proactive, fitness-center approach to my health, to falling off the proverbial wagon and putting on the pounds, back to climbing back on to work them off again. It’s a yo-yo.

    So I think it’s great when people take on New Year’s resolutions to get fit and eat right. Even if they don’t succeed, the resolution is a great step in the right direction. Thinking about being healthy is how you eventually become healthy.

    What’s the best exercise? Is it the muscle-lengthening, joint-strengthening practice of Yoga? Is it the bone and muscle-density increasing effort in weight-lifting? How about the heart-working, artery-cleaning aerobic exercises like running, biking, and various sports?

    The best exercise is the one you do. If you try to get into a weight-lifting regimen, but dread going to the gym to actually pump iron, then you’re not going to keep at it. So find something else.

    I’m not very big on aerobics, so I found myself skipping my days planned for the treadmill. It wasn’t until I switched to the stationary bike, where I can read books while sweating bullets, that I didn’t mind the activity, and quickly went from 20 minute sessions to over an hour, and now I see how high I can set the resistance as I bike and it just keeps going up.

    Yoga, martial arts, baseball, skating, basketball, swimming, jump-rope, running, hiking, biking, volleyball, boxing, racquetball, tennis, power walking, tree-climbing, gymnastics, stair-climbing, golf–you get the idea. There’s lots of options.

    Here’s Some Exercise Ideas for Geeks:

    The Eowyn Challenge: can you hike as far as those two pip-squeak hobbits did in the Lord of the Rings? Get outdoors and do some live action role-playing.

    Do you fall in the senior citizen category? Then you might want to check out the Nintendo Wii, which provides light exercise and high entertainment value. Here’s a Personal Trainer’s thoughts on the Wii.

    If you want to be green while you sweat, try the stationary bike, which can generate enough electricity to power a laptop; however, this is currently a pretty expensive investment, in the $1k-$3k range and purely DIY.

    And if you’re the video game addict sort of geek, you can always do the Paint Ball thing. Those pellets can really hurt, and dodging them gets the blood pumping. Playing first-person shooters behind a monitor is for wimps. Unless you strap a camera rig to your back and turn real life into an FPS:

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/TuC1st-cA9M&rel=1]

    And if these aren’t doing it, then maybe you need to change your state of mind. Read the scientific literature on working out, chart your progress, keep graphs, calorie count, just completely geek out on thrill of hacking your body. That’s what all the jocks are doing at the gym.

    Maybe you could find a way to quantify your exercise in experience points?

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