Media I've enjoyed lately 2011

Wow. Lots to catch up on since the last time I posted on podcast episodes I really enjoyed. Not to worry, though, most of them are from 60-Second Science.

 

Science and Technology

Science Talk - The Poisoner's Handbook : The Sinister Side of Chemistry

Astronaut Love: An Interview with Spacewalker Stanley Love

TEDTalks - Mike deGruy: Hooked by an octopus - Mike deGruy (2010)

Hans Rosling on global population growth - Hans Rosling (2010)

Hans Rosling and the magic washing machine - Hans Rosling (2010)

60-Second Science: Trusting Souls Excel at Spotting Liars

Low-Level Moral Transgressions Make Us Laugh

Solar Panels Dust Themselves Off

Dinner Party Discovered 12,000 Years Later

Organic Strawberries Beat Conventionally Grown In Test Plots

Pirates Need Science, Too

Butterflies Choose Plants for Medicinal Qualities

Mice Prefer Treats They Worked Harder to Get

Neandertal Brains Retained Infantile Shape

Daydreaming Diminishes Happiness

Follow the Money to See Real Communities

CSIs Could Estimate Victim's Age with Just Blood

It's Even More Full Of Stars

Saturn's Rings May Be Remnants of a Moon

Database Tries to Track Culture Quantitatively

Young Female Chimps Cradle Stick-Toys like Dolls

 

Creativity and Learning

TEDTalks - Cameron Herold: Let's raise kids to be entrepreneurs - Cameron Herold (2010)

Aditi Shankardass: A second opinion on learning disorders  - Aditi Shankardass (2009)

John Hunter on the World Peace Game - John Hunter (2011)

Jok Church: A circle of caring - Jok Church (2007)

60-Second Science: Reach Kitchen Staff with Safety Stories

 

Health

TEDTalks - Ananda Shankar Jayant fights cancer with dance  - Ananda Shankar Jayant (2009)

Stephen Palumbi: Following the mercury trail - Stephen Palumbi (2010)

Nigel Marsh: How to make work-life balance work - Nigel Marsh (2010)

60-Second Science - Ancient Brewmasters Made Medicinal Beer

A Few Drug-Resistant Bacteria May Keep the Whole Colony Alive

Salmonella Take Advantage of Our Battle Plan

City Living Promoted Resistance to Infectious Disease

Love Lessens Pain

Clenched Muscles Assist Self-Control

New Crop of Elderly Outsmart Their Predecessors

Receptors for Taste Found in the Lungs

Text Message Outreach Improves HIV Patients' Outcomes

Exercising to Music Keeps Elderly Upright

Ultramarathoners Reveal "Safe" Injuries

Think More to Eat Less

Trained Rats Sniff Out TB

Placebos Work Even When You Know

98.6 Trades Metabolic Cost for Fungal Protection

 

Simplicity

TEDTalks - Jessi Arrington: Wearing nothing new - Jessi Arrington (2011)

 

Good news and an opportunity for San Franciscans 2010

I'm very relieved that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Budget & Finance Committee has maintained funding for the Neighborhood Emergency Response Team program. This is a wonderful, practical, and free program to train ordinary San Franciscans to stay safe and, where possible, help others in case of disaster. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee the funding will be preserved in the future, so take advantage of the program now while we have it.

Why should you care?

California has a 99.7 percent chance of having a 6.7 magnitude earthquake or larger during the the next 30 years. The likelihood of a more powerful quake of 7.5 magnitude in the next 30 years is 46 percent. Such a quake is more likely to occur in the southern half of the state than in the northern half. ... the probability of a 6.7 magnitude earthquake or larger over the next 30 years striking the greater Los Angeles area is 67 percent and in the San Francisco Bay Area is 63 percent [source]

The best way to deal with this threat is to understand what it would mean for you and your household and how you can reduce your risks of being badly hurt during a quake. Take the classes, they're free and interesting. Download the NERT manual and learn how to put together an emergency kit. Get involved with your local team and stack the deck in favor of coming through the next big shakeup unharmed.

San Franciscans, once again, why should you care?

Because we have 17,000 residents per square mile and only about 300 firefighters on duty at any given time. You will need to be self-sufficient, especially in the first three days after a major quake.

It's not hard to be ready, but you do have to start preparing.

Every week, from now until the ground moves, devote a little time – even just a few minutes when you can't take a class or do a bigger safety project in your home – to providing for your future.

Definitely in motion on my road 2010

My latest Discardia post is about choosing what you most want and don't want in your life and then bearing those priorities in mind when faced with options (which we are all day, every day).

Here are my choices:

I want...
1. to be thriving in a great relationship.
2. to feel healthy and strong.
3. to be a published author.

I don't want...
1. to work in a cubicle.
2. to have little control over when I do what.
3. to be stressed all the time.

I'm making great progress on all of these goals. I quit my office job just over a year ago, went into business for myself as a productivity and life coach, started writing my book about Discardia, devoted more of my energy to my relationship with Joe, and consciously began designing my life for less stress.

The feeling healthy and strong part has been tough, though, I have to admit. I hate gyms. I have a weak knee and a weak ankle which make running or jogging very unattractive. Really, the only exercise routine I actually like and seek out many times a week is walking. As someone with a project of walking the city of San Francisco – every street, every block – that's not a surprise, right? :)

During the past two years I've made various attempts to up my activity level. I tried the Wii Fit for a while; fun, but not inspirational for daily activity. I got a pedometer and renewed my focus on my SF walking project; definitely a help, but not always compatible with working on a book and maintaining a happy home many hours a day.

Yesterday, I think I finally found the sweet spot: a treadmill desk.
I moved my Ikea office armoire to the other wall so the space in front of it wouldn't block our path to the back bathroom, switched the shelves around so that the extending desk surface could hold my monitor at face height when I'm standing, and put my treadmill in front of the desk. There are a couple tweaks needed – the typing surface needs to be an inch or two lower and the stereo speaker buzz needs to be resolved – but in the first part of my day today (less than two hours) I've already strolled at a comfortable speed of 0.7 miles an hour (while typing and reading) and logged over 2700 steps.

I can see that with this setup it will be very difficult not to reach a daily goal of at least 10,000 steps. Also my energy and alertness levels are both higher than when I'm sitting in a chair. Awesome!

Notes on my setup:
- LifeSpan Fitness TR200 Fold-N-Stor Compact Treadmill
- nice finished board
- two scarves to tie board on treadmill handles
- blanket under board for padding and as additional safety grip
- Ikea armoire with extendable shelf
- cheapish monitor
- MacBook
- creativity

Something for San Franciscans to be proud of 2008

Really nice news in my email this morning: Healthy San Francisco is now providing health care to over half of the 60,000 uninsured residents the program is expected to reach. This is after just 15 months and it's wonderful to think about the impact this has not only on the city economy, but also on individuals' lives.

I'm proud to live in a city where the practicality of universal heath care is being demonstrated.

You can hear more about the program, and about hopes that other cites & counties around the country will take similar efforts in this short video from Mayor Gavin Newsom:

Unexpected Time Off 2008

Tuesday night after dinner Joe and I were going to go over to Momi Toby's cafe and do an hour or so of work to make our Wednesdays go better. Since it's just round the corner I was carrying my laptop in my hands rather than in my backpack. On the bottom step I wasn't paying close attention to my feet and slipped, twisting my ankle to the side sharply. Fortunately, I had my precious lovely 12" PowerBook in my hands and so without thinking, instead of putting my hand out to catch myself and probably breaking my wrist or something, I landed hard on the sidewalk on my ass. Let's just say it's good that baby's got back; big bruise, but no lasting harm.

What was clearly not okay was my ankle. I lay still and had Joe bring me a big ice pack immediately so my foot could chill down while I assessed my condition without trying to stand. Clearly gonna be a bruise on my butt, yep. Scraped the right ankle a little falling, but doesn't feel like any internal problem, okay. But that left ankle, not good. Big twist and I think there was a kind of a noise. On the bright side, a very cautious exploratory wiggle of the big toe hurts like hell on the top of the foot but doesn't make me scream.

So into a cab, off to the ER and back home a couple hours later with a splint & crutches. Lay in bed or sat on the couch with my foot raised up on an ottoman all day yesterday. In the evening crutched my way verrrry carefully down the stairs for door to door delivery to & from Absinthe for a simply lovely anniversary celebration: their first cocktail pairing dinner.

This morning a follow-up appointment with the doctor to learn, yes, a break, but it's more of a chip really and at this point I'm not going to damage it further provided I keep it elevated & let it heal for week. No going to work. My company doesn't generally allow telecommuting (*sigh*) and if I can't go to work I'm certainly not making the planned weekend trip to Vegas, so I'm suddenly and surprisingly faced with the next 5 days completely free except for the physical constraints.

We'll see how I do at actually catching up on my reading and online projects, but prepare yourselves for more than the usual amount of blogging.

Interesting details about Hillary Clinton's health care plan 2007

Looks like good analysis here by Maggie Mahar. More details in her comments further in the thread too. (Thanks to Uncle Larry for the linky goodness).

old snippets 2007

Probably written between 2000-2002:

I am actually partially deaf. I have a condition called otosclerosis wherein the small bones of the ear fuse together. This has so far only affected my right ear. I had a surgery about 6 or 7 years ago and they put a little steel and teflon piston in my ear. Now I'm bionic. :) It did help a lot. I think my hearing is probably only down about 30% in that ear now. There is a possibility that the condition will affect the other ear at some point, but so far so good.

Remember Chernobyl 2006

Twenty years ago today a terrible accident befell the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The effects of that disaster are with us still and will be with us for generations to come.

The Chernobyl disaster arose from an accident that occurred on April 26, 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Pripyat, Ukraine. It is regarded as the worst accident in the history of nuclear power. Because there was no containment building, a plume of radioactive fallout drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern and Western Europe, Scandinavia, the British Isles, and the eastern United States. Large areas of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia were badly contaminated, resulting in the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people. About 60% of the radioactive fallout landed in Belarus according to official post-Sovietic data ^[1]. According to the 2006 TORCH report, half of the radioactive fallout landed outside those three Soviet countries ^{[2] [3]}. The disaster released over four hundred times more radiation than the atomic bomb of Hiroshima.
[read the full Wikipedia article here]

The problem is that radiation doesn't just go out like a fire and that its effects are profound, very long-lasting, and can be fundamentally damaging to living creatures.

Photographer Paul Fusco has documented the Chernobyl Legacy and its impact on humans. This photo essay with audio commentary is incredibly powerful and disturbing.

You need to face this.

Anyone who thinks that the risks of the use of atomic energy - for power or weapons - are exaggerated needs to see this. Maybe it's manageable. Maybe. But I think about new babies being born almost two decades after this incident who are deformed to the point of being unable to sit or stand, who are unable to recognize their parents, whose bodies are altered by mutation such that their vital organs extend in growths outside the bounds of the normal human silhouette. Do we really think that our clever species can't come up with a better way to generate power? Or is it that those other methods aren't as profitable and therefore less appealing to the powerful who are not measuring quality of human life as the most important bottom line?

According to an Associated Press article by Natasha Lisova, Ukrainians Mark 20 Years Since Chernobyl,

About 350,000 people were evacuated from their homes following the explosion, never to return. A whole city, Pripyat, and dozens of villages were left to decay, and experts say some may not be habitable for centuries or longer.

The protective "sarcophagus" that was hastily erected over Reactor No. 4 is now crumbling, and a $1.2 billion project to replace it remains on the drawing board. Yushchenko has said he expects work to begin this year, and be completed around 2010.

The new shelter is designed to last for 100 years, although officials say the plant contains particles whose radioactivity could last tens of thousands of years.

Tens of thousands of years. Humankind isn't ready to plan for that scale of time. We must demand our leaders step back from these dangers. We must not goad additional countries into the use of atomic power and atomic weaponry.

We live in one shared atmosphere. One week after Chernobyl there were measurable radiation differences planetwide. Even if you don't care about the rest of the world, your nation depends on the safety and biological health of other nations.

The best path to a strong, prosperous America is a strong, prosperous world. Our leaders must acknowledge that or we must change our leaders before they damage us irrevocably.

Initial thoughts on strep throat 2006

This freakin' sucks. I do not like strep throat at all.

A Few Tips for People With Vaginas 2006

- Keep your mini-pads/panty liners in your underwear drawer instead of the bathroom. Duh. Why didn't I think of this a decade ago?

- (this one works for people without vaginas too) Maybe you like the messy sex but not the mess afterwards, maybe you or your playmate have rough callused fingers (or tender parts). Enjoy life more with a silky sexy sheet to lay on the bed under you to catch stray spills and a supply of medical examination gloves. (Before you buy gloves, figure out if you're sensitive to them. There are quite a few varieties. You will probably not want the kind with powder inside.)

- One of the best cures for cramps is an orgasm. Also may cure hiccups and relieve depression.

- Another great cure for cramps is a heating pad. These patches from Thermacare are great. I wear them all day and don't have to miss any work or spend 2 hours in misery during the really bad spell. Also: nice warm tummy.

More tips anyone would care to share? If you want to post anonymously, just make up some clever name and put "example@example.org" for the mail.

(If you've been shocked or offended by this post, I think you are being a dork. Women bleed. Sex is fun. Get over it or go read some other site.)

Recovering from a bad night's sleep 2005

I slept very poorly on Monday night. Probably a combination of factors - excitement about my upcoming trip, my natural inclination to stay up past midnight, garbage day noise outside, an odd dream, a thai ice tea at lunch (d'oh!) - but it left me groggy and not functioning at my usual pace yesterday.

Knowing that I need to get a lot done at work this week and that I was not going to be productive for the last hour and a half of my work day given my sleepy condition, I left early. On the way home I stopped off at the store to at least accomplish one "to-do" on my list. While there I also bought a few "Insomnia rebound" supplies.

According to Wikipedia,

Tryptophan is an amino acid and essential in human nutrition... Tryptophan is also a precursor for serotonin (a neurotransmitter) and melatonin (a neurohormone)... Tryptophan is particularly plentiful in chocolate, oats, bananas, dried dates, milk, cottage cheese, meat, fish, turkey, and peanuts.

Melatonin, or 5-methoxy-N-acetyltryptamine, is a hormone produced by pinealocytes in the pineal gland, located in the brain, but also in the retina and GI tract. It is a derivative of the amino acid tryptophan... Melatonin helps regulate sleep-wake or circadian rhythms.

So, when I got back to my place around 5:30pm, I had the following dinner while I checked up on some email and other low-key tasks:

• a small glass of milk
• a big spoonful of peanut butter (about 2 or 3 Tablespoons worth)
• two slices of turkey (with Trader Joe's Raspberry Chipotle Sauce to spice things up)

I'd had a big serving of eggplant & bean cake at lunch, so didn't feel too bad about my lack of vegetables. Plus all that was very filling since I don't normally take in such a big dose of protein at one sitting.

One other thing I think may have helped was that I did not play any music - I will normally put iTunes on shuffle play - and the silence may have helped with lulling me towards sleep.

By 7:15pm I was yawning and began doing my pre-sleep tooth care, etc. I must have gone to bed between 7:45pm and 8, but I was very drowsy and didn't note the exact time. I figured I'd probably nap for a couple hours and then get up and have a glass of warm milk to knock myself out again.

Instead I slept solidly through the night, surfacing at around 3:30am briefly and then falling right back asleep. When my alarm went off at 6:40am, I awoke refreshed and alert. Hooray for tryptophan!

Non-walking wounded 2005

I slipped on my stairs the other night and got a big bruise on my butt and managed to whack my foot on the trim on the wall. Somehow the toes tucked around the curves of the molding in such a way that the big, 3rd & little toes are okay, but the 2nd and 4th got badly walloped.

They're swollen with interesting purple and reddish mottling. The seem to go in the usual direction so if they're broken they aren't horribly broken. Unfortunately, there just isn't much even doctors can do for toes, so even if they're broken they'd probably just get taped to the toe next to them.

I have been icing them, keeping my foot elevated, and minimizing the amount of walking I do. I stayed home today and will make up the time by working on Monday. (Looking forward to a quiet and productive day then, actually).

Anyhow, not much posting. I'm sore and feeling lame in more than the obvious way.

Note to self: do not go down the stairs in slippery stocking feet.

On the mend 2005

Finally feeling more normal by the end of the day today, which is good because it was the first day back to work since last Tuesday and I could have overdone it. I think easing into things Saturday evening and Sunday and Monday helped. Not too much activity, but enough.

Yesterday I went to the dentist (which is why I had the extra day off) and they used a new device on me for my cleaning. It's an ultrasonic tool instead of the scraping horror one usually endures and it's vastly preferable. For once I came out thinking "well, there are certainly other ways I would prefer to have spent the last hour" but not in the depressed, invaded and abused mood I usually feel after dental work or pelvic exams. (Yes, I know they're doing it for my health and hurt as little as they can, but still, I wind up sad and wanting comfort food and cuddling).  I'm pretty pleased with this dentist, Dr. Perona. This was my second visit and I think I've found a good match. My last one unfortunately like to talk politics and social issues and I think we were in opposite camps on most things. Very nervous-making to disagree with someone who has sharp implements in your mouth.

Well, time to brush and floss properly (yessir) and then enjoy another night of proper sleep. You don't truly appreciate it until you've done without for a few nights!

Stay well, everyone.

Points for effort, at least 2005

I didn't nap during the day. At 8pm I took some Nyquil (but not the dope-you-up nighttime kind) and then a bit before 10 I took a melatonin. 20 or 30 minutes later I was feeling dozy, brushed my teeth and went to bed. It was lovely. I drifted off to deep, restful sleep comfortably and quickly.

...And then woke up two hours later bright eyed and bushy tailed.

*sigh*

At least my symptoms are down to a slightly sore, scratchy throat and the occasional "productive" cough (which is about the only productivity I've been able to manage for the last three and a half days). My sinuses are back to normal, not even allergies bothering me.

Only fly in the ointment: wide awake at a quarter to 1am. Fortunately, I'm not alone in the nightowl world. Alongside re-reading old posts in this weblog from two years ago, I had a great chat with my friend Simon, who I'm hoping to get to spend more time hanging out with if he moves out to this part of the world.

Now it's 2:15am and I'm hungry. I guess the appetite is reminding me that it's well too.

Summer cold 2005

Well, just as I enter an incredibly intense two weeks at work, I get a head cold which appears to also have the odd symptom of completely disrupting my sleep schedule.

I blame the reduced quality of my diet over the past month (since reluctantly cancelling my Organic Express subscription due to investigations of the delivery box by a rodent of usual size) and stress. On the bright side, I did buy a bunch of vegis and fruit yesterday and have been taking better care of myself for the last few days. Not enough to stave it off, but perhaps enough for a quicker recovery.

Be careful out there.

Weekend Fog 2005

It's not that I'm getting to old for this; I think I've always had this reaction to late night fun and even moderate amounts of alcohol. Friday and Saturday night I was up past midnight hanging out with friends and drinking. I had two drinks each time - probably about 6oz of spirits - and then drank water and took ibuprofen and stayed up until 3am before going to sleep.

I slept 7.5-8 hours and then sat up in bed and read for a bit. Despite the normal amount of sleep (and an additional nap on Saturday), I'm groggy, unmotivated and drained. The question in my mind is "was it the drinks or the 4 hour timeshift of my sleeping?" Am I slightly hung over or jetlagged?

Suffice to say, I traded late night hanging out with some friends for daytime citywalking and a book-trading brunch this morning with other friends I'd really been looking forward to seeing. Ah well, life is trades.

After careful consideration... 2004

I know it's important to give things a chance. When trying something new, sometimes you really need to give it time to grow on you, to see if it's a good fit.

Well, I've given it 8 days. I think that's more than fair.

My conclusion?

I don't like influenza.

(I'm done. This can stop now. Thanks.)

Yay! It's boobie time! 2004

Everyone loves boobies, so of course you'll want to follow this link to the Third Annual Blogger Boobiethon. This wonderful fundraising effort celebrates mammary glands and helps to promote support for organizations fighting diseases that hit us right where we should be feeling sexy.

Enjoy some lovely boobies and some pecs too - all pictures donated by real bloggers, including me - and chip in to keep the world full of sweet healthy breasts. Every time someone's chest catches your eye, remember how important breast health is to your happiness!

Sick Sucks 2004

So I've been sick all frickin' week and it was icky and I didn't like it. Plus I have a ton of stuff going on at work so I had to pull it together for at least a couple hours each day to check on mail and join meetings by phone and stuff like that. Upside is that there won't be quite so much waiting for me when I'm back on my feet.

Tomorrow I'm flying to Cleveland to visit the sacred springs whose waters can heal my curs'ed wounds... um... well, no actually, no... I'm going for a little conference for work. I have to give a couple presentations which I'm sure will go fine and I'll get to meet some customers I've only worked with over the phone so that's nice, except that I have to remember not to touch anyone or breathe on them so I don't give anybody else this evil headcold of the damned.

This will be the first trip with my PowerBook and I'm worried because I didn't back everything up. Maybe I can do that while I take my shower. That would be prudent. Then again more of my stuff is online than off, so it'd be a disaster if something happened to my sweet little device, but not an unmitigated one. (Hmm, mitigated. Is that another word for the "People never say this" list?)

So very busy. 2004

I've been quiet here since I've been crazy busy at work. I come home wanting something amusing to escape to and so I've been surfing the web, chatting with friends and watching DVDs. Not a huge amount of creative output in the evenings since I've been doing so much writing during the days. Admittedly, it is less fun to write & proof read documentation than posts about wonderful weird things seen on the web, but at least my writing muscles are getting worked out.

Not so much my physical muscles. Mental exhaustion can fool me into indolence when what I really need is to move around. The diet I'm on also leaves me with a little less energy, I suspect. Overcoming that pull away from activity is difficult. Today, though, I'll get a good bit of walking in. I have taken the day off to relax and see the geisha exhibit at the Asian Art Museum before it closes later this month.

Earlier this year I'd talked about taking a vacation, maybe up to visit my aunt & grandmother in Alaska, but then my company decided that one of the other product managers and I should put new versions of our products out twice a year instead of once and that made work fairly insane. I think we'll get good at it - already it's forcing us to be more efficient, but it is still a little crazy-making. On the bright side, I'm getting asked to present more at conferences, so that's giving me a little travel.

I'll be in Portland middle of next month and will get to take a 3-day weekend before the conference to play tourist. I'll be staying at the Jupiter Hotel and doing a lot of walking around downtown, visiting museums and parks, and, of course, hanging out at Powell's Books.

Now it's time to be a tourist in my own city. Off to ride the trolley to the museum!

Tarragon Shallot Omelette 2004

(cooked just a tad too long on the bottom)

 

2 eggs
1 or 2 tsp dried shallots
.5 - 1 tsp dried French tarragon
.5 tsp tomato paste
little bit of fresh ground pepper
pinch of salt

Rub 6" pan with stick of butter
Preheat pan for a minute or so on high
Pour in omelette mix
When top starts to turn opaque, use spatula to peek under edge & see if it's browning
When it is, flip it over for a few seconds to finish the cooking
Turn off stove and flip omelette onto plate
Garnish with fresh grated hard cheese such as romano
Red cabbage sprinkled with rice vinegar makes a nice side salad

215 calories

 

[Posted to Flickr on this day. My pal skizzybiz commented: "One method that I learned from my brother (who works as a line cook) is to lift one edge up with a a spatula while the top is still liquid, and let the stuff drain underneath. Keeps the cooking a bit more even."]