Health
The Power of Position
How we position our bodies says a lot to others about our confidence and our abilities, but it also says a lot to us. Thanks to Cody Wanner for pointing me toward this wonderful TED video. I would love to know more about her study techniques, and the graph with a non-zero baseline bugs me, […]
DHA Could Help Poor Readers
In a recent randomized double blind trial, adding the Omega-3 fatty acid DHA to a students diet resulted in improved reading scores. Here is a taste of a piece from STATS fellow Maia Szalavitz: Researchers at Oxford University’s Center for Evidence-Based Intervention studied 362 7- to 9-year-old children who had placed in the bottom third […]
Does Smoking Pot Lower IQ?
Apparently, the answer is yes. (HT: Josh Wood) And worse, if you start young, it appears the brain is less able to regain the IQ points lost while smoking. We could have a discussion about the methodology used, and we should beware that correlation does not imply causation in an observational study such as this. […]
TED Talk Tuesday: Part 2
An interesting look at how an engineer designed a better way to repair his own heart!
TED Talk Tuesday
An interesting take on what it will take to fix American health care. He suggests that we need less of the independent spirit of the proverbial “cowboy” and more of the teamwork of a pit crew. Take a look/listen.
Picking on the Homeless: Update
My friend Rob Martin will be heading into Philly to participate in an act of civil disobedience with The Simple Way this afternoon around 4:00. Here are some of the detail On Thursday 22nd March, The Simple Way and family will be having a little love feast/radical “food sharing” at Thomas Paine Plaza. We will break some bread […]
Picking on the Homeless
In recent weeks, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and the department of health in the city have been championing regulations that would prohibit outdoor distribution of food to the homeless. This seems like the worst of big government intervening with sweeping legislation to solve an occasional problem. I thought I would share the following thoughtful response […]
How Government Controls what We Eat
This image tells part of the story: It sure looks like government subsidies control why it is so cheap to get hamburgers, and conversely so expensive to get good fruits and vegetables. Funny that the subsidies are such a poor match to the government’s own nutrition recommendation! Could there be some political motivation for the […]
Success Breeds Happiness, or Does It?
This entertaining and enlightening video sheds light on how our brains really work, and claims that happiness is the key to success, not the other way around. I find the argument persuasive, and think that we ought to think carefully about how we can be intentional about fostering happiness in our perspective on life!
No Longer Normal 