A clear and quick intro to major points of longevity research: caloric restriction, insulin/IGF, parabiosis, senescence, autophagy, hypothalamus, reproductive system, mitochondria, sirtuins:
Hi! I’m Laura Deming, and I run Longevity Fund. I spend a lot of time thinking about what could increase healthy human lifespan. This is my overview of the field for beginners.
https://www.ldeming.com/longevityfaq
The Atlantic has an interesting article on strategies for fighting COVID-19. It’s all about the testing, baby. Pooled tests. Mass-produced tests that are cheaper, but less precise — use them every day. (Plus masks and social distancing, of course.)
Problems:
(1) Government: the FDA has to allow them even if they are less precise than other (slower and more expensive) tests.
(2) Government: COVID-19 will be conquered in a year, or two, or three, and for-profit corporations of course don’t want to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a product that will be obsolete soon. The government has to spend the money under the Defense Production Act.
(Also worth quoting: “Congress has already authorized at least $7 billion to fix testing that the Trump administration had declined, for months, to spend.” Emphasis is mine.)
Link (7,600 words): https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/08/how-to-test-every-american-for-covid-19-every-day/615217/.
Ah, the puzzle of peace. Just know that each of us brings a peace of the puzzle. A little peace here, a little peace there and that is how we create One Big Peace everywhere.
Click here: https://laughlearnlinks.home.blog/swami-beyondananda-on-listening/.
Also see the Swami’s website, https://wakeuplaughing.com/beyondanews.php.
I just created a MoveOn petition, “Fire Florida”.
It would mean a lot to me if you took a moment to add your name…
To Congress: Declare Florida to be an independent country, no longer part of the United States of America, and with no representation in Congress or the Electoral College.
Details: Florida is demonstrably full of morons. Their inability to understand that a contagious disease is contagious, their inability to elect state-wide officials with even an iota of a clue, not to mention their complete lack of driving skills, means that Florida is a dead weight on America and costs us billions of taxpayer dollars. We must get Florida out of our country whether they can spell America or not. Fire Florida!
https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/fire-florida
Real change happens when everyday people like you and I come together and stand up for what we believe in. Together we can reach heaps of people and help create change around this important issue.
After you’ve signed the petition please also take a moment to share it with others. It’s super easy – all you need to do is forward or share this link on Facebook or Twitter.
The Titanic rammed an iceberg and sank on April 14, 1912. There were so many icebergs in the normal shipping lanes at that time that shipping lanes were moved south. Perhaps because on January 4th of that year…
It was the closest approach of the moon to the Earth in more than 1,400 years, and this configuration maximized the moon’s tide-raising forces on Earth’s oceans.
…the unusually high tide in Jan. 1912 would have been enough to dislodge many of those icebergs and move them back into the southbound ocean currents, where they would have just enough time to reach the shipping lanes for that fateful encounter with the Titanic.
https://www.txstate.edu/news/news_releases/news_archive/2012/March-2012/Titanic030512.html
An analysis of how the United States ended up with one of the world’s most catastrophic responses to COVID-19.
Coping with a pandemic is one of the most complex challenges a society can face. To minimize death and damage, leaders and citizens must orchestrate a huge array of different resources and tools. Scientists must explore the most advanced frontiers of research while citizens attend to the least glamorous tasks of personal hygiene. Physical supplies matter—test kits, protective gear—but so do intangibles, such as “flattening the curve” and public trust in official statements. The response must be global, because the virus can spread anywhere, but an effective response also depends heavily on national policies, plus implementation at the state and community level. Businesses must work with governments, and epidemiologists with economists and educators. Saving lives demands minute-by-minute attention from health-care workers and emergency crews, but it also depends on advance preparation for threats that might not reveal themselves for many years. I have heard military and intelligence officials describe some threats as requiring a “whole of nation” response, rather than being manageable with any one element of “hard” or “soft” power or even a “whole of government” approach. Saving lives during a pandemic is a challenge of this nature and magnitude.
It is a challenge that the United States did not meet.
It’s a fascinating read. Sections:
Stressing out about the pandemic? Words of wisdom from the Swami. For example:
Meanwhile, here are three evolutionary practices that will help you turn this time of retreat into an advance:
TANTRUM YOGA. Given how cooped up people are, ranting has become the latest rage on the path to ire consciousness. Thanks to Tantrum Yoga, you can now use your anger to heat your home in the wintertime…
MENTAL FLOSS. In times of stress — particularly if paying attention to the news — thought particles tend to get lodged between the ears, a leading cause of truth decay….
HA-HA-HA BREATHS. As you may know, each of our chakras has a vowel sound associated with it … the solar plexus is “Oh” the heart chakra is “Ah”, and the third eye is “Eee.”…
Click here: https://laughlearnlinks.home.blog/swami-beyondananda-on-covid-19/.
Also see the Swami’s website, https://wakeuplaughing.com/beyondanews.php.
That’s all you need to know about this funny video. 21 minutes 39 seconds.
I thought this was interesting: a discussion of the final battle in the movie Lord of the Rings from the viewpoint of a military historian. It includes comparisons to the book, recognizing that books and films are different media. He also has discussions of other literary battles (for LotR fans, the Battle of Helm’s Deep).
A historian’s look at the Siege of Gondor in Peter Jackson’s Return of the King. We’re going to discuss how historically plausible the sequence of events is and, in the process, talk a fair bit about how pre-gunpowder siege warfare works.
…a sustained study of a single campaign from the angle of all of the participants, these posts discuss campaign logistics, siege techniques, battlefield physics and cavalry dynamics.
https://acoup.blog/2019/05/10/collections-the-siege-of-gondor/
Also see https://acoup.blog/resources-for-teachers for the full range of his posts.
When you search for information, you’re going to find lots of it… but is it good information?
You will have to determine that for yourself, and the CRAAP Test can help.
The CRAAP Test is a list of questions to help you evaluate the information you find. Different criteria will be more or less important depending on your situation or need.
Currency: The timeliness of the information.
Relevance: The importance of the information for your needs.
Authority: The source of the information.
Accuracy: The reliability, truthfulness and correctness of the content.
Purpose: The reason the information exists.
https://library.csuchico.edu/help/source-or-information-good. Also available as a one-page PDF from that site.
Laugh / learn links log 