With more people eating a vegetarian diet, they may be falling short of MSM (methyl sulphonyl methane), which is found in meat and dairy products. The third biggest nutrient in the body, MSM's benefits include better joint flexibility, stronger immunity, a healthier heart, better breathing and energy.
Lifespan, issue Spring 2016
Thursday, 6 October 2016
Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Learning Skills
Research shows that students who immediately tell someone the information that they learn can recall details better and for longer - useful in exam season.
Good Housekeeping, June 2017
For poetry, songs, music, lists of words in another language: It may be better learning from the end, each time finishing with something you know. So learn the last line of a poem first, then last two lines. Split music in phrases and sections for learning. This could also help with gymnastic, ice skating and synchronised swimming routines.
Brainstorming a problem? Language is good for description but bad for perception. To get a new point of view, choose a random word and juxtapose that with the target word or area. Also cultural differences can produce different ways of looking at a situation. Include Plus, Minus and Interesting points, Consequence and Sequel, and the Other Point of View in your review. Remember that Either/Or choices make for 'sharp' decisions.
Edward de Bono: I Am Right, You Are Wrong, Penguin 2009
If a baby is introduced to water before any fear is allowed to develop (easily transferred by a frightened parent), swimming never has to be formally taught, just as babies are not taught to walk.
Zen approach to learning physical skills is that you play better if 'unconscious' of how to play. Archery: relaxation, visualisation of the shot, letting go of oneself. Tennis: beginner watched coach doing 10 forehand strokes, then let body imitate - perfect except that did not move feet - had commented that coach moved feet first and tried to remember that. Can be applied to other physical skills such as golf and skiing.
Ian Wilson: Superself. Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd, 1989
Good Housekeeping, June 2017
For poetry, songs, music, lists of words in another language: It may be better learning from the end, each time finishing with something you know. So learn the last line of a poem first, then last two lines. Split music in phrases and sections for learning. This could also help with gymnastic, ice skating and synchronised swimming routines.
Brainstorming a problem? Language is good for description but bad for perception. To get a new point of view, choose a random word and juxtapose that with the target word or area. Also cultural differences can produce different ways of looking at a situation. Include Plus, Minus and Interesting points, Consequence and Sequel, and the Other Point of View in your review. Remember that Either/Or choices make for 'sharp' decisions.
Edward de Bono: I Am Right, You Are Wrong, Penguin 2009
If a baby is introduced to water before any fear is allowed to develop (easily transferred by a frightened parent), swimming never has to be formally taught, just as babies are not taught to walk.
Zen approach to learning physical skills is that you play better if 'unconscious' of how to play. Archery: relaxation, visualisation of the shot, letting go of oneself. Tennis: beginner watched coach doing 10 forehand strokes, then let body imitate - perfect except that did not move feet - had commented that coach moved feet first and tried to remember that. Can be applied to other physical skills such as golf and skiing.
Ian Wilson: Superself. Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd, 1989
Monday, 3 October 2016
Greaseproof Paper or Baking Parchment?
Can't tell whether that roll of paper without its box is greaseproof or baking parchment?
Just hold a little of it under running water.
Just hold a little of it under running water.
- Greaseproof paper will absorb the water and get wet.
- Parchment will repel the liquid like water off a duck's back.
Sunday, 2 October 2016
Why Teens Put on Excess Weight
A rise in obesity in adolescents may be down to a sharp drop in the amount of calories they burn while resting. A 10 year study in the International Journal of Diabetes found energy used at
rest was 25% lower in 15-year-olds compared with when they were 10 - a
fall of 500 calories a day. This is equivalent to cutting out an hour's strenuous exercise every day.
Most of the energy we burn is just to keep our bodies ticking over - using the brain, heart, liver and kidneys - rather than through physical activity.
The study found that the number of calories the children burned at rest fell sharply during puberty, even though this is a period of rapid growth, which usually uses up lots of calories. It was only around the age of 16 that the number of calories burned at rest started to rise again. During puberty there was also a noticeable drop in the amount of exercise, particularly among girls.
With about a third of school children aged 10-11 in England overweight or obese, the challenge is how to address the issue. Researchers said that the findings showed there was an even greater need to improve children's diets and protect them from the heavy marketing of junk food and sugary drinks.
"Last month's government strategy on childhood obesity confirmed the duty on sugary drinks, but was otherwise a disastrous missed opportunity. We need much tougher regulation around the marketing of junk food to children - particularly on TV and online."
BBC News item: Calorie burn fall 'could explain obesity rise' 8th Sept. 2016.
Most of the energy we burn is just to keep our bodies ticking over - using the brain, heart, liver and kidneys - rather than through physical activity.
The study found that the number of calories the children burned at rest fell sharply during puberty, even though this is a period of rapid growth, which usually uses up lots of calories. It was only around the age of 16 that the number of calories burned at rest started to rise again. During puberty there was also a noticeable drop in the amount of exercise, particularly among girls.
With about a third of school children aged 10-11 in England overweight or obese, the challenge is how to address the issue. Researchers said that the findings showed there was an even greater need to improve children's diets and protect them from the heavy marketing of junk food and sugary drinks.
"Last month's government strategy on childhood obesity confirmed the duty on sugary drinks, but was otherwise a disastrous missed opportunity. We need much tougher regulation around the marketing of junk food to children - particularly on TV and online."
BBC News item: Calorie burn fall 'could explain obesity rise' 8th Sept. 2016.
Saturday, 1 October 2016
How to be a Conservative
Philosopher Roger Scruton argues in 'How to be a conservative' that conservatism is an instinct to preserve
things (either useful or 'elevating' even if financially worthless) that have been around a very long time. While not converted to his views wholesale, I did find some interesting points.
The UK law of corporations means that businesses are obliged to make a profit. Since charities are legally not able to make a profit, they set up 'trading arms' to generate income.
Society is composed of individuals. Socialism and communism sought to redress injustices by imposing forms of government, sometimes by force.
Boundaries are not created by drawing lines on a map, but 'arise through emergence of national identities, which in turn requires that religious obedience take second place to the feeling for home, territory and settlement'. RS thinks that putting religion above nationality (e.g. Islam), as a test of membership, poses a threat to political order.
Western civilization is rooted in Christianity, which focuses on confession and forgiveness. Accountability in public office is one manifestation of this, but is absent from the Islamic world and rapidly disappears from dictatorships. [My note: It is increasingingly absent from Western politics with cover-ups all too common.] There has been a gradual transfer of authority and decision-making from the bottom of society to the top.
Education used to be the transmission of knowledge, then became social engineering, eliminating distinctions and unfair advantages. He claims that a diverse educational system, with well-designed and rigorous examinations, will enable children to find the skill, expertise or vocation that suits their abilities. [My note: I don't know of any country which does this. The grammar/comprehensive divide means that children 'fail' at a young age. The 1960s proposed UK technical schools never became a reality.]
Post WW2, the view that nationalism was the cause of war has led to increased European integration. As an ideology, nationalism (as with all ideologies) is dangerous. It replaced religion, which gave a purpose for life. Everyday nationalism is based on settlement, with peace between neighbours. RS claims that because we define membership in territorial terms, we enjoy elementary freedoms and that in states founded on religious obedience, freedom of conscience is a scarce and threatened asset. He notes that our laws (UK) are secular and, where possible, neutral to religion while shari'ah law was intended for a long-gone community. The English speaking world has internalized the idea that law exists to do justice between individuals, and not to impose a uniform regime of commands.
Socialism aimed to give equal opportunity to all but had unintended consequences of long-term benefit dependency. He accepts that inequality breeds resentment, and recommends using your wealth wisely to benefit the most people. [My note: Does this happen much? A few wealthy people are known to donate much to specific causes, but probably this is a small minority.] Economic activity depends on knowing other people's wants, needs and resources; prices provide an index of scarcity of resource and/or extent of demand.
Market economies need legal and moral sanctions to function properly but modern economics have developed ways of avoiding costs or passing them on that bypass sanctions (hedge funds, sub-prime mortgages). New Islamic banking is elaborately dependent on legal fictions which make unreal estate into the primary subject matter of financial contracts.
Transferring costs. Glass bottles expensive to produce, so makers charged a refundable 2d per bottle, which were re-used. Now produced cheaply and thrown away. Supermarkets use transport networks built at public expense; zoning laws favour shopping malls and large warehouses. Packaging (25% by weight of products sold) is mostly non-degradeable. [My note: RS offers no solution.] On environmentalism, he states that we must find motives strong enough to restrict our appetites.
Liberalism has its roots in 19th century - political order exists to guarantee individual freedom; authority and coercion are only justified if liberty requires them.
Law. Tort - the wrongdoer must compensate the victim. Contract - anyone who breaks a contract must compensate the other for their loss. Equity - he who seeks equity must do equity. Citizenship is largely misunderstood by Islamists, who believe in unquestioning obedience to divine law. RS claims that Western govenrments are aware that many people (even maybe a majority) did not vote for them, so must make themselves acceptable to those they disagree with and states that traditional rights have been supplemented by positive duty rights and reciprocal duties (my right to life = your duty not to kill me).
Multi-culturalism. RS states that culture is permeable to the rest of life, adapts to organisations, which in turn adapts to the emancipation of the people. His view is that many migrants come to the West in search of the advantages of liberal jurisdiction but without understanding or accepting the costs. Effort is needed on both sides to integrate new arrivals into national life, and the common culture should adapt to include them, noting that race and culture are not the same thing. Fear of accusations of racism have meant refraining from criticism or action against overtly criminal actions such as forced marriage, female genital mutilation and 'honour' killings.
On internationalism, his view is that we should continue the ancient practice of the resolution of disputes between sovereigns by treaty, since such states are legal persons, who should deal with each other through a system of rights, duties, liabilities and responsibilities. Sanctions typically hurt the people, not ruling elites.
RS feels that religious obedience is not a necessary part of citizenship, and, in any conflict, the duties of the citizen must prevail over religious obedience.
He concludes that the virtues of Western democracies are inseperable from the secular rule of law, which is inherently territorial and thinks attempts to reduce legislative powers of sovereign nations must be resisted. Toleration means accepting the right of others to think and act in ways of which you disapprove - but this does not mean renouncing all opinions others might disagree with, an easy-going relativism or a belief that 'anythign goes'.
Roger Scruton: How to be a conservative. Bloomsbury, 2014 (hbk) and 2015 (pbk).
The UK law of corporations means that businesses are obliged to make a profit. Since charities are legally not able to make a profit, they set up 'trading arms' to generate income.
Society is composed of individuals. Socialism and communism sought to redress injustices by imposing forms of government, sometimes by force.
Boundaries are not created by drawing lines on a map, but 'arise through emergence of national identities, which in turn requires that religious obedience take second place to the feeling for home, territory and settlement'. RS thinks that putting religion above nationality (e.g. Islam), as a test of membership, poses a threat to political order.
Western civilization is rooted in Christianity, which focuses on confession and forgiveness. Accountability in public office is one manifestation of this, but is absent from the Islamic world and rapidly disappears from dictatorships. [My note: It is increasingingly absent from Western politics with cover-ups all too common.] There has been a gradual transfer of authority and decision-making from the bottom of society to the top.
Education used to be the transmission of knowledge, then became social engineering, eliminating distinctions and unfair advantages. He claims that a diverse educational system, with well-designed and rigorous examinations, will enable children to find the skill, expertise or vocation that suits their abilities. [My note: I don't know of any country which does this. The grammar/comprehensive divide means that children 'fail' at a young age. The 1960s proposed UK technical schools never became a reality.]
Post WW2, the view that nationalism was the cause of war has led to increased European integration. As an ideology, nationalism (as with all ideologies) is dangerous. It replaced religion, which gave a purpose for life. Everyday nationalism is based on settlement, with peace between neighbours. RS claims that because we define membership in territorial terms, we enjoy elementary freedoms and that in states founded on religious obedience, freedom of conscience is a scarce and threatened asset. He notes that our laws (UK) are secular and, where possible, neutral to religion while shari'ah law was intended for a long-gone community. The English speaking world has internalized the idea that law exists to do justice between individuals, and not to impose a uniform regime of commands.
Socialism aimed to give equal opportunity to all but had unintended consequences of long-term benefit dependency. He accepts that inequality breeds resentment, and recommends using your wealth wisely to benefit the most people. [My note: Does this happen much? A few wealthy people are known to donate much to specific causes, but probably this is a small minority.] Economic activity depends on knowing other people's wants, needs and resources; prices provide an index of scarcity of resource and/or extent of demand.
Market economies need legal and moral sanctions to function properly but modern economics have developed ways of avoiding costs or passing them on that bypass sanctions (hedge funds, sub-prime mortgages). New Islamic banking is elaborately dependent on legal fictions which make unreal estate into the primary subject matter of financial contracts.
Transferring costs. Glass bottles expensive to produce, so makers charged a refundable 2d per bottle, which were re-used. Now produced cheaply and thrown away. Supermarkets use transport networks built at public expense; zoning laws favour shopping malls and large warehouses. Packaging (25% by weight of products sold) is mostly non-degradeable. [My note: RS offers no solution.] On environmentalism, he states that we must find motives strong enough to restrict our appetites.
Liberalism has its roots in 19th century - political order exists to guarantee individual freedom; authority and coercion are only justified if liberty requires them.
Law. Tort - the wrongdoer must compensate the victim. Contract - anyone who breaks a contract must compensate the other for their loss. Equity - he who seeks equity must do equity. Citizenship is largely misunderstood by Islamists, who believe in unquestioning obedience to divine law. RS claims that Western govenrments are aware that many people (even maybe a majority) did not vote for them, so must make themselves acceptable to those they disagree with and states that traditional rights have been supplemented by positive duty rights and reciprocal duties (my right to life = your duty not to kill me).
Multi-culturalism. RS states that culture is permeable to the rest of life, adapts to organisations, which in turn adapts to the emancipation of the people. His view is that many migrants come to the West in search of the advantages of liberal jurisdiction but without understanding or accepting the costs. Effort is needed on both sides to integrate new arrivals into national life, and the common culture should adapt to include them, noting that race and culture are not the same thing. Fear of accusations of racism have meant refraining from criticism or action against overtly criminal actions such as forced marriage, female genital mutilation and 'honour' killings.
On internationalism, his view is that we should continue the ancient practice of the resolution of disputes between sovereigns by treaty, since such states are legal persons, who should deal with each other through a system of rights, duties, liabilities and responsibilities. Sanctions typically hurt the people, not ruling elites.
RS feels that religious obedience is not a necessary part of citizenship, and, in any conflict, the duties of the citizen must prevail over religious obedience.
He concludes that the virtues of Western democracies are inseperable from the secular rule of law, which is inherently territorial and thinks attempts to reduce legislative powers of sovereign nations must be resisted. Toleration means accepting the right of others to think and act in ways of which you disapprove - but this does not mean renouncing all opinions others might disagree with, an easy-going relativism or a belief that 'anythign goes'.
Roger Scruton: How to be a conservative. Bloomsbury, 2014 (hbk) and 2015 (pbk).
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