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MSN UK NewsBionic eye 'blindness cure hope'BBC News - 21 Apr 2008A 'bionic eye' may hold the key to returning sight to people left blind by a hereditary disease, experts believe. A team at London's Moorfields Eye Hospital have carried out the treatment on the UK's first patients as part of a clinical study into the ...
////////////////////...........Michael Edwards' openDemocracy essay, "Philanthrocapitalism: after the goldrush" (19 March 2008) is serious and thought-provoking. The basic argument is this: there is a movement afoot to harness the power of business for social change. This includes newly-minted foundations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, corporate-social-responsibility (CSR) programmes and social entrepreneurs. These philanthrocapitalists are undermining the independence and social mission of civil society. As a result, we are missing out on real social transformation, and maybe even risking our democracy.Mark Surman is an open philanthropy fellow at the Shuttleworth Foundation in South Africa, where he is inventing new ways to apply open-source thinking to social innovation. He is also the partnership advisor and former managing director at telecentre.org, a project that networks community-technology activists around the world. His blog is here
From where I sit, much of what Edwards says seems wrong or misdirected, mixing apples with oranges with assumptions. Which is why I was so suprised to see him briefly trumpeting one of my favourite ideas: "... new business models built around ‘the commons' such as open source software and other forms of ‘non-proprietary production'". Edwards suggests that these new models have the potential to deliver deep changes to both our society and our economy. I agree. In fact, I would argue that they already have.
The power of peers
Just think about Wikipedia for a second. In less than ten years, Wikipedia has completely overturned the intellectual and economic power structure of the publishing industry (or, at least, the parts dealing with reference materials). What's more, it has dramatically increased the number of languages that have their own encyclopedias (over 250), the number of topics covered (2.3 million in English alone) and the speed with which new topics get covered (there is even a little article on philanthrocapitalism). Like it or not, Wikipedia is unquestionably an incredible achievement.
Many would also argue that Wikipedia is a major public good, on the order of an education or library system. That's certainly what Jimmy Wales and others had in mind when they coined the Wikimedia Foundation's vision statement: "Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment." The people behind Wikipedia were definitely thinking about what Edwards calls "real social transformation" right from day one.
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Nasa 'should follow Columbus'
Hawking says it is time "to boldly go where no man has gone before"
Professor Stephen Hawking has called for a new era of space conquest akin to Christopher Columbus' discovery of the new world.
In a speech honouring Nasa's 50th anniversary, the 66-year-old astrophysicist said the situation we face "is like Europe before 1492".
"People might well have argued it was a waste of money to send Columbus on a wild goose chase," he mused.
"Yet the discovery of the new world made profound difference to the old."
And then he quipped: "Just think, we would not have a Big Mac or KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken).
"Spreading out into space will have an even greater effect," he told an audience assembled at George Washington University, Washington DC.
"It will completely change the future of the human race and maybe determine whether we have any future at all."
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////////////////////Houston, we've had a problem."
Thirty-five years ago today, these words marked the start of a crisis that nearly killed three astronauts in outer space. In the four days that followed, the world was transfixed as the crew of Apollo 13—Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert—fought cold, fatigue, and uncertainty to bring their crippled spacecraft home.
But the crew had an angel on their shoulders—in fact thousands of them—in the form of the flight controllers of NASA's mission control and supporting engineers scattered across the United States.
Apollo 13, We Have a Solution
////////////////////LR.....Tricking Your Brain Into Thinking You Are Eating Twice As Much" I have found some wonderful tips to help you eat less that require no calorie counting, no weighing or measuring. Great visual tips toslow you down so that you eat less. First partI will share today.1. Serve your food in covered dishes. It iseasier to pass on seconds when you can't seeor smell the food that you are serving according to Brian Wansink, PH.D. Author ofMindless Eating. He says that it can cut yourconsumption by 71%.2. Place a small spoon such as a demitasse spoonabove your plate. When you have your dessert, thesmall spoon will slow you down so that your tummy will fill fuller.3. Layer your dishes. Place a salad plate ontop of your regular plate. Filling the smaller plate with food will give you the illusion of having more to eat. 4. Blue is one of my favorite colors ordinarily.However, outside of blueberries and blue gelatinthere are just not any blue foods. Research shows thatthe color blue acts an appetite suppressant. To get this effect try using blue place mats and napkinsor blue dishes. Layer with a blue salad plate.Stay tuned tomorrow for more visual tips to trickyour brain into thinking you are eating twiceas much.
BLUE PLATE,DIET PLATE
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//////////////////Sitting Out Earth DayApril 22, 2008 9:23 PM Subscribe
The new face of hunger -- “World agriculture has entered a new, unsustainable and politically risky period” says the International Food Policy Research Institute. Food riots have erupted in countries all along the equator because of soaring food commodity prices. So, where does the world get more food? If the extra supplies are to come mainly from large farmers in America and Europe, then they may be trapped in a farm subsidy Catch-22. Increase production per acre? We just learned about the myth of GM crops (previously of MeFi). All of this is why some are just sitting out Earth Day.
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//////////////.........The Simplest Diet Ever
by Tracy Teare
This easy, flexible plan will keep you healthy with next-to-no effort.
We love the flexibility of this plan from Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD. It’s supersimple to remember, nothing’s off limits, and it’s a snap to do on the go. Just allow yourself 300 calories for breakfast, 400 for lunch, and 500 for dinner, plus two 150-calorie snacks, for a total of 1,500 calories a day. (Go to www.thecaloriecounter.com for the calorie counts of most foods.) Make it healthy and filling by working in lots of fruit, veggies, and whole grains.
Here’s a sample day:
Breakfast 1 cup yogurt1 cup strawberries1 low-calorie granola bar1 cup coffee with 1 teaspoon of sugar294 calories
LunchHalf a turkey sandwich1 cup garden-vegetable soup1 cup fresh fruitunsweetened iced tea390 calories
Afternoon snack 15 light tortilla chips1/2 cup salsa146 calories
Dinner1 roasted skinless chicken breast drizzled with balsamic vinegar8 grilled asparagus spears2 roasted red potatoes sprinkled with 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese520 calories
Evening snack1/2 cup light chocolate ice cream1/4 cup raspberries146 calories
/////////////////..........Health, April 2005
A Formula to Prevent Overeating
by Trisha Gura
Follow these guidelines to help you eat less and enjoy your dining experience.
So much goes on around the table while you're eating, and so much of it can affect your appetite. Subtle cues—lights, temperature, aromas, the shape of a wine glass, a whiff of espresso—can all tempt you to overindulge.
But a recent analysis of dozens of studies on "food ambience" (those factors around you that tickle the senses) suggests you don't have to give in. Instead, experts say, you can make the environment work for your waistline. Here's how:
Look before you eat The brighter the lights, the quicker you'll eat. Physiologically speaking, light intensity revs up the nervous system, and you'll often respond by eating too fast. Result: You'll end up stuffing your stomach before your brain can tell you that you're full. Unfortunately, dim lighting is no solution, because it can hide signals of satiety. "We lose track of what we have eaten," says Brian Wansink, PhD, a nutrition-science expert at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. That's why people tend to eat more in candlelit restaurants; they linger, picking at their plates even if they're full.
The antidote: If you have to eat in a brightly lit restaurant like a fast-food joint, Wansink says, remind yourself—repeatedly—to eat slowly. In dimly lit restaurants with more romantic settings, pick one: drink, appetizer, or dessert. And keep yourself attuned to your feelings of fullness. When they come, ask your server to box up what you haven't finished.
Dine on the patio As a general rule, the hotter the climate, the less people eat, says Nanette Stroebele, PhD, a neuropsychologist at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. She co-authored the recent report on food ambience in Nutrition. Heat slows down your metabolism, so your energy needs and your hunger decline as the mercury rises. Use that to your benefit.
The smart strategy: Ask for an outdoor table whenever the weather cooperates. Out where it's balmy, people seem to prefer food that's less dense and usually less caloric (salads instead of mashed potatoes, for example).
Tame your tableware Supersized portions, whether it's French fries or frittatas, can make you think bigger is normal. That may override your "I'm full now" body sensors. Just as influential are the size of your plate and the shape of your cup. It's called the size-contrast effect, Wansink says: Bigger plates trick people into believing they're getting smaller servings. So do short, fat glasses. Even bartenders—renowned for their ability to "eyeball" a shot of alcohol accurately—will fill a shorter glass with up to 31 percent more than they pour into a tall, narrow one.
The solution: Avoid jumbo plates, and choose taller, thinner glasses.
Play hard to get "People tend to eat almost everything you put in front of them," says John DeCastro, PhD, a professor and chair of the department of psychology at the University of Texas at El Paso. Working alongside Stroebele on the ambience study, DeCastro found that convenience is one of the strongest triggers for overeating and snacking.
Wansink demonstrated the power of proximity in 2002, when he and colleagues gave a gift of Hershey's Kisses to some university secretaries as part of a study. The secretaries ate nine Kisses daily when the candy was on their desks in transparent bowls. Consumption fell to an average of six and a half candies when the sweets were placed in opaque containers with lids, and only four when the bowls were positioned three steps away. That's a difference of up to 2,500 calories a month—and a prescription for gaining nearly 12 pounds per year.
The answer: At family gatherings and other occasions when overeating is likely, serve the food—and then put the serving platters on the counter or even in another room. Buy fewer ready-to-eat snacks, de Castro says, so you'll have to work harder to nibble when you're not hungry. Parcel out snacks into single-serving zip-top bags, Wansink suggests, and avoid buying food in bulk. What if you just can't resist the price on that 60-count box of granola bars? Stow away the extras in the back of the pantry. Out of sight, out of mind, out of tummy.
— Trisha Gura is writing a book on eating disorders among women over age 25.
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