tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56383962012-01-29T09:23:22.245-05:00A good day from the ingredients at handTerryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.comBlogger46741100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-7061634115750038662012-01-29T09:23:00.001-05:002012-01-29T09:23:22.260-05:00

"There is nothing like a steadfast man, one in whom you can have confidence, one who is found at his post, who arrives punctually, and who can be trusted when you rely on him. He is worth his weight in gold. You can take your bearings from him, because he is sure to be where he ought to be, and nowhere else. The majority of individuals, on the contrary, are sure to be anywhere but where they

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-18165299589141484452012-01-29T08:14:00.003-05:002012-01-29T08:14:55.256-05:00

(American Digest)

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-39188300821368080812012-01-27T12:31:00.001-05:002012-01-27T12:31:12.385-05:00

It's getting real spooky out there. Hawaii's legislature is weighing an unprecedented proposal to curb the privacy of Aloha State residents: requiring Internet providers to keep track of every Web site their customers visit. The FBI has quietly released details of plans to continuously monitor the global output of Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, offering a rare glimpse into an

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-48129046099060731682012-01-27T09:20:00.001-05:002012-01-27T09:20:20.338-05:00

"It is our choice that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -- J. K. Rowling

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-29535875735268508732012-01-26T17:14:00.000-05:002012-01-26T17:14:46.456-05:00

While everyone is trying to understand the game Obamaman, Warren Buffett and Buffett's secretary are playing, and having trouble understanding it, here's something even I can understand: A new report just out from the Internal Revenue Service reveals that 36 of President Obama's executive office staff owe the country $833,970 in back taxes. These people working for Mr. Fair Share apparently

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-25191503058139322512012-01-26T12:10:00.000-05:002012-01-26T12:10:09.163-05:00

A state trooper told me the other day that a flashlight is a good weapon: it can temporarily blind a bad guy. Just get one that makes 100 lumens or more, he said. I don't know what I lumen is, but I suspect it's those little particles you see floating around when the sun shines through the window. What I discovered is that you can spend $500 or more on a flashlight and get something that makes

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-7977617979809553682012-01-26T08:51:00.001-05:002012-01-26T08:51:26.551-05:00

Don't worry, be happy. An advice columnist for PJ Media named Belladonna Rogers says that, contrary to what many believe, worry is a good thing. This captures her point: Even the otherwise judicious Roman rhetorician, Marcus Annaeus Seneca, said, “There is nothing so wretched or foolish as to anticipate misfortunes. What madness is it in expecting evil before it arrives?” Right. Guess he

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-68012606379535765292012-01-26T07:39:00.000-05:002012-01-26T07:39:40.073-05:00

From The Gumbo Blog Department of Political Analysis: (American Digest)

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-8682980885578362532012-01-25T18:30:00.003-05:002012-01-25T18:30:44.234-05:00

There's your iPad. "In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle. But, today, average is officially over. Being average just won’t earn you what it used to. It can’t when so many more employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius.

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-38866314312842695112012-01-24T17:11:00.000-05:002012-01-24T17:11:07.524-05:00

At the same that we're turning our health care over to bureaucrats in Washington, our scientists are offering a glimpse of the future of medicine. The future is not anything we know now in our so-called "healthcare system," which was not designed as a system and doesn't work as a system. And it's certainly not anything like what Mr. Obama imagines. In their book Transcend, Ray Kurzweil and Terry

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-85399392373528082182012-01-24T12:45:00.002-05:002012-01-24T12:45:20.014-05:00

Or is it just a trick? A knack, the linguist Robert Beard writes, is a special, inexplicable skill or talent for carrying out a specific action. That's the noun. There are other forms, he says, of which I have not been familiar. The verb knack means "to crack, to make the noise of cracking," reflecting the original meaning of knack, the noun. Knacker "something that makes a sharp

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-48033251703084201392012-01-24T10:22:00.004-05:002012-01-24T10:22:53.911-05:00

Questions Nobody Is Asking "Ever Wonder What Happens at the Little Gold-Buying Stores?"--headline, Times (Munster, Ind.), Jan. 22 "What Happened to Breastfeeding on Sesame Street?"--headline, Ragan's Health Care Communication News, Jan. 23 "Does Newt Own a Beet Farm?"--headline, PowerLineBlog.com, Jan. 22 "According to one of his ex-wives, Newt Gingrich advocated open marriage as an alternative

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-50619811557494136882012-01-24T05:47:00.002-05:002012-01-24T05:47:45.744-05:00

According to Wagner A. Kamakura of Duke University and Rex Yuxing Du of the University of Houston, who studied purchases by more than 66,000 U.S. households over two decades: In a recession that shrinks GDP by 2%, consumers increase their charitable expenses by 32%—about the same proportion by which they reduce their expenditures on jewelry and watches (35%). Consumers also increase their

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-48327227046398741652012-01-23T05:00:00.000-05:002012-01-23T05:00:13.090-05:00

"What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step. It is always the same step, but you have to take it." -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-54589603098481059262012-01-22T21:00:00.000-05:002012-01-22T21:00:03.525-05:00

This year both Groundhog Day and the State of the Union address will occur on the same day. This is an ironic juxtaposition of events. One involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to an insignificant creature of little intelligence for prognostication. The other involves a groundhog ... (Boned Jello)

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-67068417844664549432012-01-22T17:00:00.000-05:002012-01-22T17:00:03.746-05:00

In 1837, Adrien de Gasparin, the Minister of the Interior of France, asked Hector Berlioz to compose a Requiem Mass to remember soldiers who died in the Revolution of July 1830. The premiere was conducted by François Antoine Habeneck in 1837. According to Berlioz himself, Habeneck put down his baton during the dramatic Tuba mirum (part of the Dies irae movement), and took a pinch of snuff.

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-88366177620530228402012-01-22T13:00:00.000-05:002012-01-22T13:00:03.816-05:00

This is not an endorsement of Newt Gingrich but rather of what he said after winning the South Carolina primary yesterday. “I want America to become so energy independent that no American president ever again bows to the Saudi king.” A reminder: And, in reference to Obama's block of the pipeline from Canada, which the Canadians say will lead to selling the oil to China: “An American

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-9986058981576638442012-01-22T09:00:00.000-05:002012-01-22T09:00:03.032-05:00

Religion insight of the day, via Glenn Reynolds: BECAUSE IT’S ONLY SAFE TO PICK ON CHRISTIANS: University atheist society president forced to resign after cartoon of Muhammad having a drink with Jesus is posted on Facebook.  And the lesson to Christians (and other religions) is that if you want respect, make people physically afraid. But if that’s the incentive system you create — and it is

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-80223141026727071902012-01-22T05:00:00.000-05:002012-01-22T05:00:01.930-05:00

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains." -- C.S. Lewis

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-2888788916477332912012-01-21T19:04:00.001-05:002012-01-21T19:04:49.473-05:00

Exercise protects against a host of illnesses, from heart attacks and dementia to diabetes and infection. How it does so, however, remains surprisingly mysterious. But a paper just published by Beth Levine of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre and her colleagues sheds some light on the matter. Dr. Levine and her team were testing a theory that exercise works its magic, at

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-36367561960104007302012-01-21T13:43:00.002-05:002012-01-21T13:43:40.067-05:00

Which do you think I should wear? Today I'm wearing an old flannel shirt and some old blue jeans. I have no idea when I got them or where or even whether I bought them or just found them in the house one day, as often happens in a house where three kids grew up. I'm dressed this way because nobody but Crazy Lab and the neurotic (in one case, psychotic) cats will see me. And I have to go out

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-2306837575105834162012-01-21T10:22:00.003-05:002012-01-21T10:22:55.709-05:00

It's not about you, boys. "In turning down [the Keystone XL Pipeline] the President has uncovered an ugly little secret that has always lurked beneath the surface of environmentalism. Its basic appeal is to the affluent. Despite all the professions of being "liberal" and "against big business," environmentalism's main appeal is that it promises to slow the progress of industrial progress.

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-79534605588590944122012-01-20T09:00:00.000-05:002012-01-20T09:00:02.727-05:00

Because I don't have anything to say.

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-19538592858434085642012-01-20T05:00:00.000-05:002012-01-20T05:00:07.576-05:00

“Happy the man who can endure the highest and the lowest fortune. He, who has endured such vicissitudes with equanimity, has deprived misfortune of its power.” -- Seneca 

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-77852566235044918882012-01-19T21:00:00.000-05:002012-01-19T21:00:01.853-05:00

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-28590412319494996922012-01-19T18:12:00.001-05:002012-01-19T18:12:53.269-05:00

Stuart Butler, writing in National Affairs: In recent decades, key sectors of the American economy have experienced huge and disruptive transformations — shifts that have ultimately yielded beneficial changes to the way producers and customers do business together. From the deregulation that brought about the end of AT&T's "Ma Bell" system, to the way entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs forever changed

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-85769390912670724002012-01-18T09:00:00.000-05:002012-01-18T09:00:12.182-05:00

President Obama, who has increased the national debt more than any other president ever, is now pretending that he wants efficiency in the federal government. He's bragging that he's going to consolidate some federal agencies. Except: Contrary to what the New York Times was reporting, President Obama’s plan to consolidate six agencies into one isn’t “an aggressive campaign to shrink the size of

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-86463796322743069792012-01-17T21:00:00.000-05:002012-01-17T21:00:03.011-05:00

Where's the beef? ATLANTA—During a press event at Arby's headquarters last week, the company officially launched its new $2.99 Grab-N-Go Meal Deal, which allows patrons to go behind the counter at any franchise location and grab as much roast beef as they can with their bare hands."We're thrilled to announce an exciting new dining option that lets customers step right into our kitchen and dig

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-1415940991296073602012-01-17T14:33:00.000-05:002012-01-17T14:33:15.627-05:00

The Harvard Medical School makes strength training easy. You just need a chair. Chair stand Exercises the muscles of the abdomen, hips, front thighs, and buttocks Place a small pillow at the back of your chair and position the chair so that the back of it is resting against a wall. Sit at the front of the chair, knees bent, feet flat on the floor and slightly apart. Lean back on

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-14045219635490821852012-01-17T11:39:00.002-05:002012-01-17T11:39:33.470-05:00

Narrative coherence Humans love stories, Jason Gots writes. In fact, in some fundamental sense, we need them. Cognitive science has long recognized narrative as a basic organizing principle of memory. From early childhood, we tell ourselves stories about our actions and experiences. Accuracy is not the main objective – coherence is. If necessary, our minds will invent things that

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-84461256387465412682012-01-17T09:00:00.000-05:002012-01-17T09:00:05.991-05:00

That's me! Psychologists have conducted studies on eyewitness testimony, showing how easy it is to change someone's memories by asking misleading questions.  If the experimental conditions are set up correctly, it turns out to be rather simple to give people memories for events that never actually happened. These recollections can often be very vivid, as in the case of a study by Kim Wade at

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-8760298571392797502012-01-17T05:00:00.000-05:002012-01-17T05:00:00.262-05:00

"Quiet minds can't be perplexed or frightened, but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm." -- Robert Louis Stevenson

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-24962041190738503042012-01-16T19:31:00.000-05:002012-01-16T19:31:50.811-05:00

The ability to focus on the relevant features of a visual scene is one of the most important differences between experts and novices in any field — an ability that is developed over years of looking at countless similar scenarios. But what if the characteristic eye movements of experts could be recorded and then replayed for beginners, giving them a model for how and where to look? That’s what

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-30587050687434780382012-01-16T05:54:00.000-05:002012-01-16T05:54:06.278-05:00

"It’s a wonder Charles Dickens didn’t explode and perish long before his death in 1870, at age 58. Quite apart from the act of composing his novels, he was a whirlwind, living a life that is nearly unmatched in its vigor. He had one entire career as a magazine editor, another as an actor and manager of theatrical productions, still another as a philanthropist and social reformer. The record of

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-10527252271415109962012-01-15T17:45:00.000-05:002012-01-15T17:45:13.205-05:00

The Concordia Choir sings Eric Whitacre's "Lux Aurumque" at the 2005 Concordia Christmas Concert, Moorhead, Minnesota. René Clausen, Conductor (American Digest)

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-69872817703446681812012-01-15T13:00:00.000-05:002012-01-15T13:00:02.613-05:00

(The Looking Spoon via American Digest)

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-25382642976628621562012-01-15T11:00:00.000-05:002012-01-15T11:00:04.010-05:00

The New York Times is often accused of being liberal. Do you think? Here's what it offered online today "above the fold," i.e., without scrolling: CAMPAIGN STOPS What’s Race Got to Do With It? By LEE SIEGEL Mitt Romney is ahead because he is the whitest white man to run for president in years. EDITORIAL What They Don’t Want to Talk About Mitt Romney and the Republican Party fear

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-37604122408578648172012-01-15T09:00:00.000-05:002012-01-15T09:00:03.949-05:00

From The Lectionary:Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli. The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. Then the LORD called,

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-64338729861722730512012-01-15T05:00:00.000-05:002012-01-15T05:00:01.175-05:00

"Every noble work is at first impossible." -- Thomas Carlyle

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-6673541067248900532012-01-14T18:00:00.003-05:002012-01-14T18:00:29.606-05:00

Gonna flunk the SAT. A new study goes deeper in understanding the connection between good nutrition and a healthy brain. The researchers found some striking connections between nutrition and brain health. People who had higher levels of B family vitamins, as well as vitamins C, D, and E had higher scores on cognitive tests than people with lower levels. The same positive relationship

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-19172898737466763462012-01-14T14:41:00.000-05:002012-01-14T14:46:42.458-05:00

Was looking for something to post and Van der Leun came through. Stick with it. What else do you have to do anyway?

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-28919520060137041132012-01-11T05:54:00.003-05:002012-01-11T05:54:33.090-05:00

Go for it. "We have periodically posted here about eating obsessions, whether overeating, anorexia, "organic" preoccupations, people whose approach to food verges on the medicinal, vegetarianism, food fads and food quackery, etc. We shrinks call it all "orality.""As we have often said here, anybody in the Western World would need to make a full-time effort to avoid an adequate diet.

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-62004861654831072732012-01-10T05:00:00.000-05:002012-01-10T05:00:05.512-05:00

"If you consider someparticular state of affairs, and then ask what the odds of it happening are, starting from today and going back even a short time (let alone the 3.8 billion years to when life first appeared on this planet), that particular state will seem extraordinarily unlikely. For example, imagine turning the clock back five years. From that perspective, what were the odds that, on

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-37201115522902886552012-01-09T21:00:00.000-05:002012-01-09T21:00:05.291-05:00

"An earlier version of this post stated that Cardinal Edward M. Egan 'turned 80' in April 2012. Cardinal Egan will turn 80 in April 2012." -- New York Times website, Jan. 6

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-63366308380462131182012-01-09T18:42:00.001-05:002012-01-09T18:42:19.207-05:00

"let's start a magazine to hell with literature we want something redbloodedlousy with pure reeking with stark and fearlessly obscenebut really clean get what I mean let’s not spoil it let’s make it serioussomething authentic and delirious you know something genuine like a mark in a toiletgraced with guts and gutted with grace"squeeze your nuts and open your face -- E. E. Cummings, No Thanks (

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-89745300780901518522012-01-09T09:00:00.000-05:002012-01-09T09:00:01.168-05:00

Psychologists who study willpower and how people succeed at keeping their resolutions offer this advice: Set a single, clear goal. Instead of resolving to “lose weight” or “eat healthier,” set a specific goal — say, lose a pound a week. And limit yourself to one big resolution at a time. If you’re trying to quit smoking or save money, don’t bother counting how many calories you consume or burn

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-13529443593623120122012-01-09T05:00:00.000-05:002012-01-09T05:00:00.105-05:00

"There is no greatness where there is not simplicity." -- Leo Tolstoy

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-74167775111973223692012-01-08T21:00:00.000-05:002012-01-08T21:00:02.454-05:00

Shocked by new study. If men and women at times seem to be from different planets, it may be because there are large differences in their personalities, a new study suggests. The results show that about 18 percent of women share similar personalities with men, and 18 percent of men share similar personalities with women. But the majority of women have personality traits that are quite distinct

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-70875141408129629622012-01-08T17:46:00.002-05:002012-01-08T17:46:52.012-05:00

"How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place, the fourth movement of Brahm's "A German Requiem." Performed by the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra & the Elgin Choral Union. (Thanks, Peter)

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-18097175294176793032012-01-08T05:00:00.000-05:002012-01-08T05:00:09.366-05:00

"Now that I've relinquished my fantasies of all the people I wish I could be, and stopped feeling guilty about them, I have more time for the things that I truly enjoy." -- Gretchen Rubin

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-43282504789744374052012-01-07T21:00:00.000-05:002012-01-07T21:00:03.146-05:00

A bowling alley in Florida is doing record business despite a bad economy. The alley reports a record number of 300 games. Since opening in November 2010, 963 patrons have bowled a perfect game, including strikes in the warm-up frames. This alley also has the highest bowling league average in the country, with a 237. And that is the senior league. What is the secret to this amazing bowling

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-8565044820557603322012-01-07T17:00:00.000-05:002012-01-07T17:00:02.036-05:00

Cute picture. Everyone: awwwww. Dogs can understand and anticipate the intentions of their people, researchers are reporting. In a new study, dogs who were spoken to or who had direct eye contact with a person were more likely to follow that human's gaze as it moved across the room than if the person didn't make direct eye contact with them. The skills are equivalent to what is seen in 6-

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-17723792682562725002012-01-07T13:00:00.000-05:002012-01-07T13:00:02.235-05:00

(American Digest)

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-36000596146575353982012-01-07T08:21:00.001-05:002012-01-07T08:31:03.584-05:00

This fascinating illusion illustrates what intense focus does to us. Check it out. This effect is due to the Troxler Effect. From Wikipedia: Troxler's fading or Troxler's effect is a phenomenon of visual perception. When one fixates a particular point, after about 20 seconds or so, a stimulus away from the fixation point, in peripheral vision, will fade away and disappear. The effect is

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-62844197615638826412012-01-04T13:06:00.001-05:002012-01-04T13:06:10.736-05:00

Jimmy Carter, genius, has advised President Obama, genius, not to upset people by making controversial decisions. "If your main goal is to get re-elected, avoid a controversial subject as much as you can in the first term." Jimmy Carter actually said that. Then there's Ron Paul, genius. When asked whether he really sees himself in the Oval Office, he replies, not really. "Not really." Ron Paul

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-23282621605720923502012-01-04T05:00:00.000-05:002012-01-04T05:00:03.059-05:00

"The reason why we cannot keep our good resolutions is that we count too much on ourselves." -- St. John Vianney

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-81505040318706922912012-01-03T14:23:00.000-05:002012-01-03T14:23:14.097-05:00

Charles Krauthammer, who trained as a psychiatrist but works as a newspaper columnist and is smarter than most everyone put together, explains why Iran is testing a long-range missile and making varioius threats. The reason is because of a bill that passed the House and the Senate and that the president signed on New Year’s Eve that compels the president to impose really harsh sanctions on Iran.

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-68439182097619971662012-01-03T09:41:00.004-05:002012-01-03T09:41:50.393-05:00

Here's something I didn't know about the word newfangled: it has an antonym, which is oldfangled. The linguist Robert Beard writes that there's also newfandangled and newphangled.  I like both of those.Beard says to use this word to express skepticism that something is a new item that will not survive serious thought: "Morris Bedda had to bring out his newfangled electric fork at the party this

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-39814955928833457882012-01-02T16:46:00.003-05:002012-01-02T16:46:41.811-05:00

The Economist Style Guide, largely the work of editor John Grimond, is helpful, sensible, and refreshingly unstuffy, blogger Richard Nordquist writes. In other words, it heeds its own advice. That good advice first shows up in the introduction, which offers eight precepts for keeping our readers engaged. Catch the attention of the reader.Then get straight into the article. Do not spend

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-24736459790787010532012-01-02T12:35:00.001-05:002012-01-02T12:35:21.231-05:00

One of the best ways to counter stress is to pay attention to what is going on, we learn from the Harvard Healthbeat newsletter. That may sound counterintuitive, but paying attention is the first step toward cultivating mindfulness — a therapeutic technique for a range of mental health problems (and physical ones). People often lose connection with the present moment. They stop being truly

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-85280418411512048642012-01-02T05:00:00.000-05:002012-01-02T05:00:04.551-05:00

"What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal."  -- Albert Pine

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-75358225887335266982012-01-01T17:00:00.000-05:002012-01-01T17:00:05.898-05:00

Here's one of my favorite stories: An ancient language of Mexico is dying out. The last two people who are fluent in Ayapaneco are not speaking to each other. Manuel Segovia and Isidro Velazquezto both live in the village of Ayapa in southern Mexico, but don’t get along well.  Daniel Suslak, an Indiana University linguistic anthropologist, is compiling a dictionary to record the existence of

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-41199858349417741812012-01-01T15:45:00.002-05:002012-01-01T15:45:40.334-05:00

Jefferson's kitchen garden. In a review of a book about the gardening interests of our Founding Fathers, D.W. Sabin notes: While we cast about for leaders, we would do well to look for a few gardeners and farmers, men and woman who understand that a harvest is not something easily achieved, it takes a prodigious amount of humility, back-breaking work and technical prowess to produce the

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-44177795370333990432012-01-01T09:17:00.003-05:002012-01-01T09:17:28.387-05:00

(Thanks, Rachel)

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-17867096210299920592012-01-01T05:00:00.000-05:002012-01-01T05:00:01.941-05:00

"And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / and know the place for the first time." -- T.S. Eliot

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-5226245515802422582011-12-31T17:35:00.000-05:002011-12-31T17:35:18.119-05:00

(Thanks, Rose)

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-74478830557773037112011-12-31T05:00:00.000-05:002011-12-31T05:00:00.329-05:00

"What other dungeon is so dark as one's own heart! What jailer so inexorable as one's self!" -- Nathaniel Hawthorne

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-33139833734173981082011-12-30T16:53:00.000-05:002011-12-31T09:14:53.975-05:00

A Special Report from the Gumbo Blog Institute of Political Analysis. These people will be voting for president next year: Couple Faces Charges After Nude McDonald’s Drive-Thru Run... COPS: Man Steals Ambulance, Tries Driving Himself to Hospital for Treatment... More duct-taping parents arrested... PETA seeks roadside memorial for cattle killed in truck accident on highway... Thieves make off

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-50736114592247587792011-12-30T16:35:00.000-05:002011-12-30T16:35:37.731-05:00

This is the title on a report of some recent research: Green Tea Polyphenols Control Dysregulated Glutamate Dehydrogenase in Transgenic Mice by Hijacking the ADP Activation Site Catch you by surprise, too? I drink a lot of green tea, and I drink a lot of white tea -- in fact, I'm having a cup right now, even as we speak -- and white tea has about a gazillion times more of the good stuff

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-82327197165853645242011-12-30T14:00:00.000-05:002011-12-30T14:00:05.596-05:00

It's said the the vast majority of jobs are found through people you know or meet. That means that you have to get out there and meet them. Bill Barnett, who led the Strategy Practice at consulting powerhouse McKinsey & Company and has taught career strategy to graduate students at Yale and Rice, is now applying business strategy concepts to careers. He's coined a term: Massive, Structured

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-940904874984588732011-12-30T11:12:00.001-05:002011-12-30T11:12:32.760-05:00

"I hate the slightly dehumanizing, mechanistic swords "high achievers." Because the truth is that the mark of someone reaching for the stars isn't "achievement" — but failure, of the kind that makes the hair on the back of your neck snap up. If you're going to live a life that matters, I'd bet that sometimes in your 20s, you're going to fail — spectacularly, in Technicolor.  "You might launch a

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-68651383135958030732011-12-29T16:33:00.001-05:002011-12-29T16:33:26.916-05:00

MIT is about to drop a bomb in the middle of the sorry mess we call higher education. The university will offer  a totally free college education regardless of your academic performance or background. It will  launch an online learning initiative called M.I.T.x, which will offer the online teaching of M.I.T. courses free of charge to anyone in the world. The program will not allow students to

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-51576818541437945522011-12-29T13:28:00.002-05:002011-12-29T16:27:24.813-05:00

Expectations not exceeded. I'd say that in about half of my business conversations, I have almost no idea what other people are saying to me, Dan Pallotta writes. We have forgotten how to use the real names of real things. Like doorknobs. Instead, people talk about the idea of doorknobs, without actually using the word "doorknob." So a new idea for a doorknob becomes "an innovation in

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-16321647348533788262011-12-29T08:49:00.003-05:002011-12-29T08:49:44.516-05:00

If you think you can sell your house when you retire and live off the proceeds, think again.  A mortgage used to be a form of forced saving that gave you an (almost) free place to live in retirement and a little bit of value when you sold the house, says Megan McArdle, a senior editor for The Atlantic who writes about business and economics. We didn't realize that a number of

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-63119048998562212572011-12-28T17:38:00.002-05:002011-12-28T17:38:54.762-05:00

(Maggie's Farm)

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-81653338711385007422011-12-28T10:31:00.001-05:002011-12-28T10:31:47.206-05:00

Never before has it been so important to say "No," Peter Bregman writes at the Harvard Business Review Blog Network. No, I'm not going to read that article. No, I'm not going to read that email. No, I'm not going to take that phone call. No, I'm not going to sit through that meeting. Now is a good time to pause, prioritize, and focus. Make two lists:  List 1: Your Focus List (the road ahead)What

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-80151746920200275662011-12-27T17:05:00.000-05:002011-12-27T17:05:14.493-05:00

I always thought this was a bit corny, but having an "attitude of gratitude" is very real. Gratitude has recently become the favorite feast of psychologists studying the consequences of giving thanks. Cultivating an “attitude of gratitude” has been linked to better health, sounder sleep, less anxiety and depression, higher long-term satisfaction with life and kinder behavior toward others,

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-83146123511087180642011-12-27T14:07:00.002-05:002011-12-27T14:07:53.454-05:00

You can find Nancy here. Analysis by the Washington Post shows that the median net worth of a member of Congress has nearly tripled over 25 years while the income of an average U.S. family has actually fallen. It calculated that their median net worth, between 1984 and 2009 and excluding home equity, rose from $280,000 to $725,000.Over those same 25 years the wealth of the average U.S. family

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-46271580395711568982011-12-27T05:00:00.000-05:002011-12-27T05:00:03.989-05:00

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." -- Winston Churchill

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-19561481202400973942011-12-26T17:00:00.000-05:002011-12-26T17:00:03.270-05:00

I often write about breakthroughs in medical research. Innovation is the only way out of our healthcare mess: new discoveries in the lab and new ways of getting them to people. Unfortunately, the new bureaucracies rising up under Obamacare are going to hurt this. Benjamin Zycher, a senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute, writes: Obamacare established the Patient-Centered Outcomes

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-2106446972972155472011-12-26T12:55:00.000-05:002011-12-26T12:55:20.001-05:00

You look just like him. I remember the old Coca-Cola bottles, the small ones. Stamped on the bottom of each was the town in which it was bottled. That was sort of interesting, if, you know, you were eight years old and reached the end of the earth on things to talk about. You have to be of a certain age to remember what Papa B. describes here: In the queue at the store, the cashier told an

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-26106567692202356972011-12-26T08:55:00.000-05:002011-12-26T09:07:48.253-05:00

Going to college will look a lot different for many kids in the next few years. Ronald Trowbridge is a senior fellow at the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, writes in the Houston Chronicle. Radical reform of higher education is coming whether we like it not. Clayton Christensen of the Harvard Business School argues that "disruptive innovation" will inevitably radically reform

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-54148126286560911492011-12-25T09:00:00.000-05:002011-12-25T09:00:13.224-05:00

Estimated Cost Of The 12 Days Of Christmas Gifts - $101,120 Source: content.pncmc.com (Buzzfeed via American Digest)

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-76544288058312355112011-12-25T06:43:00.000-05:002011-12-25T06:43:08.945-05:00

(Maggie's Farm)

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-54854339686108858002011-12-24T17:44:00.002-05:002011-12-24T17:44:33.404-05:00

(Maggie's Farm)

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-60055713135092274012011-12-24T13:22:00.000-05:002011-12-24T13:22:16.953-05:00

"As the tempo of cultural life speeds up, the heartbeat of daily life races, and our own body rhythms respond with adrenaline, cramped muscles, and heart attacks. To take time daily for prayer, for a quiet walk that's not to the next meeting, for daydreaming or for an unplanned conversation is a countercultural act.  "Following Christ is countercultural. Jesus calls us to resist the particular

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-33971094952145179482011-12-23T17:00:00.000-05:002011-12-23T17:00:01.253-05:00

The Hubble Space Telescope has delivered an amazing view of a cosmic event that is being called the "Holiday Snow Angel."The image captures a compact star-forming region in the constellation Cygnus that is 2,000 light years away from Earth. All the commotion is being caused by the formation of a star called S106 IR that is found in the center of the image.The snow angel may look peaceful, but

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-34681948798121654062011-12-23T13:00:00.000-05:002011-12-23T13:00:05.208-05:00

Ever notice how the employees in some business establishments -- stores, doctors' offices -- seem happier, and the place seems to be better run? Notice how that affects the way they treat you and how you feel? Well, it makes a difference. Even a small improvement in retail employees' sense that their company treats them fairly yields significant benefits: The employees perform better, and

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-18572787065346075042011-12-23T09:37:00.000-05:002011-12-23T09:54:32.222-05:00

There's actually a science of getting through a crowd. Consider: Imagine that you are French. You are walking along a busy pavement in Paris and another pedestrian is approaching from the opposite direction. A collision will occur unless you each move out of the other’s way. Which way do you step?  The answer is almost certainly to the right. Replay the same scene in many parts of Asia, however

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-3079535033137311642011-12-23T05:00:00.000-05:002011-12-23T05:00:06.266-05:00

"Treat the other man's faith gently; it is all he has to believe with. His mind was created for his own thoughts, not yours or mine."  -- Henry S. Haskins

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-15361847440751833882011-12-22T13:58:00.002-05:002011-12-22T13:58:47.952-05:00

Think you're smarter than me? One of the little-noted provisions in that legislation floating around Washington -- it has to do with payroll tax cuts and an oil pipeline -- is a suspension of the ban on 100-watt lightbulbs. I've been stocking up on these babies, because I hate these new CFL bulbs. It's like we're back in pioneer days living by candlelight. Well, here's an inside look at who

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-40296204050094281182011-12-22T09:00:00.000-05:002011-12-22T09:00:08.285-05:00

ruction / rêk-shên / noun (Colloquial) A disturbance, a row, a ruckus, rumpus—a rowdy quarrel or fight. We learn from Dr. Goodword that: Because today's word is an aphetic form like scry, it is a borderline slang term, probably best not used in formal English. 'Aphesis' is the omission of unaccented initial syllables, especially noticeable in the South when Southerners say things like,'coon, '

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-47808882519943726812011-12-22T05:00:00.000-05:002011-12-22T05:00:01.646-05:00

"Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go... And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it's all over." -- Gloria Naylor

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-63364842389727461192011-12-21T21:00:00.000-05:002011-12-21T21:00:03.997-05:00

Save yourself some trouble and just use this one.

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-85908331658360060672011-12-21T17:11:00.003-05:002011-12-21T17:11:34.974-05:00

Mexico Mayan region launches apocalypse countdown... Man attacks woman with bowling ball... Drunken Santas Terrorize Manhattan... CONGRESSMAN: Michelle Obama 'has large posterior herself'... 'Lectures us on eating right'... Matt Damon rips Obama again... COPS: MAN SHOOTS AT MOUSE IN HOUSE, HITS ROOMMATE, LEADING TO ARREST FOR RAPE... COPS: Woman Sleepwalked Down Street, Fell Off Train Trestle

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-29559399188083948492011-12-21T13:27:00.002-05:002011-12-21T13:27:44.930-05:00

Robert Pagliarini,  president of  a boutique wealth management firm, uses the job interview to illustrate some fallacious ways of thinking. Dr. Aaron Beck, the "father" of cognitive therapy, first proposed the theory behind cognitive distortions. Cognitive distortions are limiting or weak habits of thinking that are not accurate. We all suffer from these occasionally, but when they come to be how

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-61322209094127197392011-12-21T09:00:00.000-05:002011-12-21T09:00:00.083-05:00

Think salad, stupid. Many studies suggest that obesity is bad for our brain, slows it down, causes early brain aging, making it susceptible to diseases typical of older people as the Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. In contrast, caloric restriction keeps the brain young.  Nevertheless, the precise molecular mechanism behind the positive effects of an hypocaloric diet on the brain remained

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-90392655835162059012011-12-21T05:00:00.000-05:002011-12-21T05:00:06.270-05:00

"I always tell a young person not to use the word 'always.'" -- Robert Walpole

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-29973566194066341752011-12-20T16:48:00.000-05:002011-12-20T16:48:31.175-05:00

"I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one’s neighbor — such is my idea of happiness." — Leo

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638396.post-12283944510569039892011-12-20T14:19:00.001-05:002011-12-20T14:41:45.016-05:00

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) has released a report, “Wastebook 2011,” which highlights over $6.5 billion in ways your taxpayer dollars were wasted. • $75,000 to promote awareness about the role Michigan plays in producing Christmas trees & poinsettias. • $15.3 million for one of the infamous Bridges to Nowhere in Alaska. • $113,227 for video game preservation center in New York. •

Terryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07279890436598967486noreply@blogger.com0