The Devil I Don't

Time Out of Mind - STEFAN KLEIN

2008-03-07T13:27:00.000-08:00

This is a fantastic Op-Ed piece I just read in the NYT today. Slow down, people. You're missing the point. Hippocritical of course, because I'm writing this with hands shaky from the coffee I drank to fuel me through another go-go-go Friday. But, still, it's a valid point, and one that I hope to be able to follow a little more every day.

Read the full article here

Obama Claims Delegate Lead

2008-02-06T10:28:00.000-08:00

Has Obama really passed Hillary? Could the person I voted for ACTUALLY be winning? That never happens. Technically, that has never happened. But that would just be too good to be true. Right? Why should a good candidate actually prevail? Why should someone who seems to be able to unite a country divided across all manner of fault lines actually move towards the position where he might actually be able to make a difference?

But it appears that Obama passed Hillary sometime this morning in actual delegate totals, 847 - 834. So I'm going to hold off celebrating. But I'm pretty damn pleased. It's not over. But it's moving in the right direction.

Super Tuesday, Superlicious

2008-02-05T11:22:00.000-08:00

It's hard to feel the hysteria from my couch. But I can tell it's there, somehow. I get the sense that big wheels are in motion, and that's refreshing. Someone is stirring the pot. Which to me is always preferable to letting things simmer. Change is good. Even if it's not necessarily the right change. It's still an impetus; an excuse for people to get up off their ass and do something different, even if it's just to object to the change. Which some people I'm sure think is ludicrous. But otherwise we stagnate. And I can't think of anything worse than that.

Argh, Get your volunteer jones on, matey

2008-01-31T14:32:00.000-08:00

So I had my volunteer "interview" at 826 Valencia today. 826 is the brainchild of Dave Eggers (Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, What is the What, etc.) that works with the SF public school system to do tutoring and writing workshops. Plus, the front looks like a pirate supply store. Which means essentially that I can now say I (kind of) work at a (kind of) pirate supply store. Which isn't something that just anyone can lay claim to. Nope, not if they live in this century. Or have a time machine.

Hiphopopotamus Rhymenocerous

2008-01-31T14:23:00.000-08:00

Gangster-folk crossover warning!
Randomness is genius. Flight of the Conchords are random. Thus, genius. Wait, that's not always true. But this is good.

Watch the video here
Get the shirt here

Blue Bottle Coffee Cafe

2008-01-30T17:27:00.000-08:00

The ever-delicious, always-obsessive roasters at Blue Bottle Coffee Co. finally opened their little cafe in Mint Plaza, in the financial district. I can't wait to try a cup of their one-cup-at-a-time, hand-stirred drip coffee, made on their $20,000 siphon bar coffee maker, imported from Japan. Something about people truly mastering their craft that really restores faith in working for the love of it. James Freeman allegedly practiced stirring with his handmade bamboo paddle for weeks before he made his first pot. Now that's love.

At last, a $20,000 Cup of Coffee

Blue Bottle Cafe, 66 Mint St. (at Jessie Street), San Francisco; (415) 495-3394. 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Sat., and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Sun. No reservations.

Map

World Clock/Countdown

2008-01-30T16:06:00.000-08:00

This is scary. Helps to keep in mind that the world is a big place. Really big.

World Clock

Double Bottom Line - Social Entrepreneurs

2008-01-30T15:32:00.000-08:00

Non-profits seem to me to be an admirable, but ultimately short-sighted way of trying to address the large-scale problems in this world. While people can certainly be motivated by the urge to do good, those altruistic drives tend to ebb and flow, and are particularly susceptible to a certain saturation point, where people feel they've 'done enough' for a while.

That being said, I know it's in no way a new concept, but if there is a silver bullet, it seems to be to find a way to run a successful business that does something for the community and makes money at the same time. Microlending, sustainable building, and environmentally friendly products all seem to be good examples of ways to keep a well-balanced 'double bottom line' of profits and social responsibility.

Here are more examples: Watch Slideshow

Gloriously Immature Video

2008-01-30T09:26:00.001-08:00

Local reporter gets it good

Junot Diaz reading “How to Date a Brown Girl (Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie)”

2008-01-29T17:16:00.000-08:00

This is from "Drown." I haven't read Junot Diaz's new book (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao) yet, but it's on the list. Along with about a million others.

Listen here

Drink to Run/Run to Drink

2008-01-29T14:05:00.000-08:00

Half the time I feel like I want to be able to run marathons, to have body fat in the single digits and to always want excuses to take the stairs. The other half, I want to belly up to the nearest nameless dive bar, to drink myself towards a mythical fount of creativity, and to never say no.

Turns out maybe I don't have to choose. Everything in moderation, including moderation.

Work Out and Drink Up

Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008 By SANJAY GUPTA, M.D.

A new study of cardiac health has yielded a happy formula: start with moderate exercise, at least 30 min. to 1 hr. a day and add moderate alcohol consumption

Erik Isakson / Getty; Maren Caruso / Getty

If you want to live a long and healthy life, you're probably trying to eat right, exercise regularly and get enough sleep. Good steps. Now how about adding a little alcohol to your regimen?

That's right. It is well documented that tossing a few drinks back in a week (and that means a few: up to one a day for women, up to two for men) has potential heart benefits. But researchers in Denmark decided to look further. Could drinking alcohol have a benefit similar to that of exercise?

"If you don't want to exercise too much," asks Dr. Morten Gronbaek, epidemiologist with Denmark's National Institute of Public Health, "can you trade it for one to two drinks per day and be fine?" A study Gronbaek and colleagues just published in the European Heart Journal suggests the answer just may be yes. That finding, not surprisingly, has proved to be a crowd-pleaser.

There are a number of reasons a drink can be such a tonic. First, alcohol and exercise affect your heart health in similar ways. "They help increase good cholesterol, or HDL [high-density lipoproteins], and clean the circulatory system's pipes," says Dr. Arthur Klatsky, a cardiologist and researcher at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. "HDL helps remove fatty deposits, created by bad cholesterol, or LDL [low-density lipoproteins], from blood-vessel walls. The higher the HDL, the less likely vascular disease becomes. The lower the HDL, the more likely."

Gronbaek and his team surveyed 12,000 people over a 20-year period. They found that exercise and drinking alcohol each had an independent beneficial effect on the heart and a compounded effect when practiced together. The investigators got even greater insight when they separated the study participants into four categories.

People who don't drink at all and don't exercise had the highest risk of heart disease. People who drink moderately and exercise had a 50% lower risk. Teetotaling exercisers had a 30% decreased risk, as did moderately drinking couch potatoes. "There's an additional protective effect to doing both," says Gronbaek. "That's the new finding."

This study is part of a growing body of work that makes a medical virtue out of what was once seen as a vice. There is evidence that alcohol in combination with caffeine can limit the damage to your brain after a stroke, even though it may not lower your risk of having a stroke in the first place. Other possible benefits include lowering your risk of diabetes, improving insulin sensitivity in postmenopausal women and decreasing dementia rates in older adults who had been consuming one to six drinks per week.

Before you rush off to hit the bar after your workout, keep in mind that your age matters. Alcohol may do you no coronary good until you reach the age at which heart disease becomes an appreciable risk. "You wouldn't advise everyone to drink," says Gronbaek. "You shouldn't even think about doing it until age 45 or 50. There's absolutely no proof of a preventative and protective effect before age 45." Also, younger women who have a higher risk of breast cancer and anyone who has a family history of alcoholism should pass on the pint and order a soda.

And remember, moderation is everything. Gronbaek's study, like most, stuck to the one-drink-a-day standard for women and up to two a day for men. It did not distinguish between type (wine vs. beer) or size (pint vs. shot). But here common sense must rule. A 10-oz. martini is a lot more than a 6-oz. serving of wine, even if they each fit in one glass. And it goes without saying that you should never drink your weekly allotment all at once.

With reporting by A. Chris Gajilan/New York

Read original at Time Magazine

Gluttony

2008-01-29T13:16:00.000-08:00

I don't read the Bible, and I don't believe in God, but this is a sin.

Famine

2008-01-29T13:15:00.000-08:00

James Nachtwey - Sudan 1993, Famine victim in a feeding center

More James Nachtwey

Another reason not to sit at a desk...

2008-01-29T13:14:00.000-08:00

Sedentary life 'speeds up ageing'

There is now another good reason for regular exercise, say researchers

Leading a sedentary lifestyle may make us genetically old before our time, a study suggests.

A study of twins found those who were physically active during their leisure time appeared biologically younger than their sedentary peers.

The researchers found key pieces of DNA called telomeres shortened more quickly in inactive people. It is thought that could signify faster cellular ageing.

The King's College London study appears in Archives of Internal Medicine.

This conclusion provides a powerful message that could be used by clinicians to promote the potential anti-ageing effect of regular exercise"

King's College London researchers

An active lifestyle has been linked to lower rates of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer.

However, the latest research suggests that inactivity not only makes people more vulnerable to disease, but may actually speed up the ageing process itself.

The King's team studied 2,401 white twins, asking them to fill out questionnaires on their level of physical activity, and taking a blood sample from which DNA was extracted.

They particularly focused on telomeres, the repeat sequences of DNA that sit on the ends of chromosomes, protecting them from damage.

As people age, their telomeres become shorter, leaving cells more susceptible to damage and death.

Examining white blood cells from the immune system in particular, the researchers found that, on average, telomeres lost 21 component parts - called nucleotides - every year.

But men and women who were less physically active in their leisure time had shorter leukocyte telomeres compared to those who were more active.

The average telomere length in those who took the least amount of exercise - 16 minutes of physical activity a week - was 200 nucleotides shorter than those who took the most exercise - 199 minutes of physical activity a week, such as running, tennis or aerobics.

The most active people had telomeres of a length comparable to those found in inactive people who were up to 10 years' younger, on average.

Direct comparison of twins who had different levels of physical activity produced similar results.

Impact of stress

The researchers suggest that physically inactive people may be more vulnerable to the damage caused to cells by exposure to oxygen, and to inflammation.

Stress is also thought to have an impact on telomere length, and the researchers suggest people who exercise regularly may help to reduce their stress levels.

Writing in the journal, the researchers said: "Our results show that adults who partake in regular physical activity are biologically younger than sedentary individuals.

"This conclusion provides a powerful message that could be used by clinicians to promote the potential anti-ageing effect of regular exercise."

In an accompanying editorial, Dr Jack Guralnik, of the US National Institute on Aging, said more work was needed to show a direct relationship between ageing and physical activity.

He said: "Persons who exercise are different from sedentary persons in many ways, and although certain variables were adjusted for in this analysis, many additional factors could be responsible for the biological differences between active and sedentary persons.

"Nevertheless, this article serves as one of many pieces of evidence that telomere length might be targeted in studying ageing outcomes."
Read more about the effects of activity and ageing at BBC News

The Devil I Don't

2008-01-29T13:11:00.000-08:00

A collection of articles, posts, and other paraphernalia of my life; a record written day-by-day. A place for me to post everything that I usually send to my fellow twenty-something, disillusioned, real-world skeptic. It's about transitions, the minutia, and finding what it's going to take to live a life that in retrospect will be full to bursting. It will never include the phrase, "finding myself."

The devil I know is this life. But I'm more interested in the other one. Don't get me wrong. This life is great. Phenomenal even. But I'm pretty keen on meeting the devil I don't know. If for no reason other than novelty. And possibility. That's all.