Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
540
Science, Astronomy, & Physics / Re: Oldest people of the world: Secrets of long life
« on: February 22, 2015, 05:15:58 PM »
The benefits of a Mediterranean diet are well known, but this still does not account for the number of people over 100 in Ovodda and other parts of Sardinia. It's even the case that Sardinians who emigrated at 20, 30 or 40 years of age still manage to reach 100, say researchers.
Over the years Professor Luca Deiana has tested every single Sardinian centenarian and has come up with a surprising theory about why there are so many.
For hundreds of years families in Ovodda have lived in relative isolation from the rest of the world, marrying into each others' families. In fact most people living in the town today are descended from only a few original settlers.
"Marriage among relatives is not the rule but there are some cases of this taking place," says Professor Deiana.
"From a genetic point of view when this happens there's a higher probability of having genetic diseases, but also of having positive results like centenarians."
In Ovodda, this interbreeding actually seems to have enabled people to live longer. The limited gene pool has provided a unique opportunity to discover specific genes that are associated with long life. Professor Deiana has detected a number of unusual genetic characteristics that seem to link the centenarians of Ovodda.
"One particular gene on the X chromosome seems to be faulty, failing to produce an enzyme known as G6PD. This can often have a negative impact on health, but in Ovodda it may well have had a positive effect."
The role G6PD may play in living longer is now being researched further, but the professor is convinced the genetic elixir of life lies with the families of Ovodda.
----
In Loma Linda, California, a community is proving anyone can increase their chances of living a longer, healthier life. The extraordinary longevity of residents may not have anything to do with genes.
The community has discovered a secret that's much easier to find than any gene. Its effect is so powerful that it enables them to live longer than anyone else in the US.
For many of those living in Loma Lindo long life is a matter of faith. A significant number of people in the town are Seventh Day Adventist.
This can be partly explained by the fact Adventists don't drink or smoke and many stick to a vegetarian diet the church advises. But not all members do and even they live significantly longer than average.
"It does certainly raise the question if there's something about spiritual life that also has an impact on longer life," says Dr Gary Fraser, who is researching the community.
"At this moment we don't really know that but there's been one interesting fact that's been known now for 20 or 30 years and that is that people that go to church regularly - whatever faith they have - live longer and there's no question about that."
It seems that regular churchgoers have significantly lower levels of stress hormones and so may be better equipped to cope with the challenges in life, say scientists.
"Religion and connection to something higher than oneself, connection to the sacred, connection to a tight-knit religious community allows you to modulate your reactions and your emotions to believe there is a broader purpose," says Dr Kerry Morton, who is involved in a longer-term study on Adventist health.
"Therefore your body can stay in balance and not be destroyed by those stressors and traumas over time."
Over the years Professor Luca Deiana has tested every single Sardinian centenarian and has come up with a surprising theory about why there are so many.
For hundreds of years families in Ovodda have lived in relative isolation from the rest of the world, marrying into each others' families. In fact most people living in the town today are descended from only a few original settlers.
"Marriage among relatives is not the rule but there are some cases of this taking place," says Professor Deiana.
"From a genetic point of view when this happens there's a higher probability of having genetic diseases, but also of having positive results like centenarians."
In Ovodda, this interbreeding actually seems to have enabled people to live longer. The limited gene pool has provided a unique opportunity to discover specific genes that are associated with long life. Professor Deiana has detected a number of unusual genetic characteristics that seem to link the centenarians of Ovodda.
"One particular gene on the X chromosome seems to be faulty, failing to produce an enzyme known as G6PD. This can often have a negative impact on health, but in Ovodda it may well have had a positive effect."
The role G6PD may play in living longer is now being researched further, but the professor is convinced the genetic elixir of life lies with the families of Ovodda.
----
In Loma Linda, California, a community is proving anyone can increase their chances of living a longer, healthier life. The extraordinary longevity of residents may not have anything to do with genes.
The community has discovered a secret that's much easier to find than any gene. Its effect is so powerful that it enables them to live longer than anyone else in the US.
For many of those living in Loma Lindo long life is a matter of faith. A significant number of people in the town are Seventh Day Adventist.
This can be partly explained by the fact Adventists don't drink or smoke and many stick to a vegetarian diet the church advises. But not all members do and even they live significantly longer than average.
"It does certainly raise the question if there's something about spiritual life that also has an impact on longer life," says Dr Gary Fraser, who is researching the community.
"At this moment we don't really know that but there's been one interesting fact that's been known now for 20 or 30 years and that is that people that go to church regularly - whatever faith they have - live longer and there's no question about that."
It seems that regular churchgoers have significantly lower levels of stress hormones and so may be better equipped to cope with the challenges in life, say scientists.
"Religion and connection to something higher than oneself, connection to the sacred, connection to a tight-knit religious community allows you to modulate your reactions and your emotions to believe there is a broader purpose," says Dr Kerry Morton, who is involved in a longer-term study on Adventist health.
"Therefore your body can stay in balance and not be destroyed by those stressors and traumas over time."
541
Science, Astronomy, & Physics / Re: Oldest people of the world: Secrets of long life
« on: February 22, 2015, 05:03:52 PM »
Evelyn Howard, a Florida resident who was among those with a happy 100th birthday party Jan. 1, exemplifies many of the traits common to long-lived people, experts say. In addition to obvious genetic advantages, she displays a positive attitude toward life's foibles and has stayed physically and emotionally active.
"I came up the hard way," she said. "You can lay down under it or you can get up and try. I like to try."
She enjoys a vodka and ginger ale highball most afternoons, regularly went on gambling cruises off the Gulf Coast and has been married three times - twice, as she notes, happily.
Her positive outlook seems to color all kinds of expectations. Opening holiday cards recently, she found one from an old friend. "I haven't heard from him in 40 years," she told her stepdaughter. "Maybe he's heard I'm single. ... No one said I had to go it alone."
---
A former employer's mom lived to be 98. She smoked 2 packs a day for 70 years, & drank a pint of vodka every day for 40 years.
---
There is one remarkable scientific fact that sets Okinawans apart from the rest of us, they actually age more slowly than almost anyone else on earth.
"The calendar may say they're 70 but their body says they're 50," says Bradley Willcox, a scientist researching the extraordinary phenomenon. "The most impressive part of it is that a good lot of them are healthy until the very end."
Finding the cause of their exceptional longevity is not simple but the spotlight has fallen on one hormone - DHEA. It's a precursor of both oestrogen and testosterone and produced in the adrenal glands.
While scientists don't know what it does, they do know the hormone decreases with age and levels decline at a much slower rate among the Okinawans.
Explanations for this mostly centre around the dinner table. The Okinawans not only eat more tofu and soya products than any other population in the world, their diet also includes a vast range of different vegetables and fruit all rich in anti-oxidants. Scientists refer to it as a rainbow diet.
But it's what they don't eat that may be at the heart of their exceptionally long lives.
The Okinawan's most significant cultural tradition is known as hara hachi bu, which translated means eat until you're only 80% full.
In a typical day they only consume around 1,200 calories, about 20% less than most people in the UK & USA. Culturally it is a million miles from attitudes in a lot of Western societies, where all-you-can-eat meal deals are offered in restaurants on most high streets.
Scientists call it caloric restriction, but don't entirely understand why it works. They think it sends a signal to the body that there is going to be a impending famine, sending it into a protective, self-preservation mode.
"It's this ability to trick their bodies into starvation that may be keeping Okinawans physiologically so young. It's a stark contrast with the cultural habits that drive food consumption in other parts of the world," says Mr Willcox.
"I came up the hard way," she said. "You can lay down under it or you can get up and try. I like to try."
She enjoys a vodka and ginger ale highball most afternoons, regularly went on gambling cruises off the Gulf Coast and has been married three times - twice, as she notes, happily.
Her positive outlook seems to color all kinds of expectations. Opening holiday cards recently, she found one from an old friend. "I haven't heard from him in 40 years," she told her stepdaughter. "Maybe he's heard I'm single. ... No one said I had to go it alone."
---
A former employer's mom lived to be 98. She smoked 2 packs a day for 70 years, & drank a pint of vodka every day for 40 years.
---
There is one remarkable scientific fact that sets Okinawans apart from the rest of us, they actually age more slowly than almost anyone else on earth.
"The calendar may say they're 70 but their body says they're 50," says Bradley Willcox, a scientist researching the extraordinary phenomenon. "The most impressive part of it is that a good lot of them are healthy until the very end."
Finding the cause of their exceptional longevity is not simple but the spotlight has fallen on one hormone - DHEA. It's a precursor of both oestrogen and testosterone and produced in the adrenal glands.
While scientists don't know what it does, they do know the hormone decreases with age and levels decline at a much slower rate among the Okinawans.
Explanations for this mostly centre around the dinner table. The Okinawans not only eat more tofu and soya products than any other population in the world, their diet also includes a vast range of different vegetables and fruit all rich in anti-oxidants. Scientists refer to it as a rainbow diet.
But it's what they don't eat that may be at the heart of their exceptionally long lives.
The Okinawan's most significant cultural tradition is known as hara hachi bu, which translated means eat until you're only 80% full.
In a typical day they only consume around 1,200 calories, about 20% less than most people in the UK & USA. Culturally it is a million miles from attitudes in a lot of Western societies, where all-you-can-eat meal deals are offered in restaurants on most high streets.
Scientists call it caloric restriction, but don't entirely understand why it works. They think it sends a signal to the body that there is going to be a impending famine, sending it into a protective, self-preservation mode.
"It's this ability to trick their bodies into starvation that may be keeping Okinawans physiologically so young. It's a stark contrast with the cultural habits that drive food consumption in other parts of the world," says Mr Willcox.
542
Science, Astronomy, & Physics / Oldest people of the world: Secrets of long life
« on: February 22, 2015, 04:39:00 PM »
Misao Okawo, who will be celebrating her 117th birthday in March, is currently the world's oldest person.
The great-grandmother of six, who lives in Osaka in Japan, puts her long life down to eating sushi, getting eight hours sleep a night and relaxing.
Born in 1898, she got married in 1919 and has three children, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Her husband died in 1931.
She was presented with a certificate from the Guiness Book of Records officially recognizing her as the world's oldest living woman when she turned 115.
Japan has more than 50,000 people over 100-years-old, which is attributed to the country's low fat diet of sushi and fish.
---
Gertrude Weaver - 116
Born on Independence Day 1898, and still said to be an independent woman, Mrs Weaver, of Arkansas, says it's her faith that keeps her going.
The wheelchair-dancing enthusiast wed in 1915, had four children and is now visited regularly in her care home by a 78-year-old granddaughter.
Now spending her days enjoying manicures and Bible study, she told Time magazine her secret to long life.
"Kindness," she said. "Treat people right and be nice to other people the way you want them to be nice to you."
---
Jeralean Talley is 115 and lives in Michigan.
She was born in 1899 and had one child with her husband, Alfred. Thelma, now 76, lives with her mom to take care of her.
She is the one of the oldest living people in America and has revealed the reason why she has lived so long hasn't changed over the years.
She said, "It's all in the good Lord's hands. There's nothing I can do about it."
---
Susannah Mushatt Jones - 115
This feisty New Yorker, born on July 6, 1899, says she doesn't have a secret to long life except that she doesn't drink or smoke and ensures she gets a good night's sleep.
She loves bacon and eats it every morning.
She never had children, but saved her salary to help pay for nieces to go to college.
Another woman who made the list is Emma Morano-Martinuzzi, 115, from Italy.
The record for the world's oldest ever person is still held by Jeanne Calment from France - who passed away in 1997 aged 122.
The great-grandmother of six, who lives in Osaka in Japan, puts her long life down to eating sushi, getting eight hours sleep a night and relaxing.
Born in 1898, she got married in 1919 and has three children, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Her husband died in 1931.
She was presented with a certificate from the Guiness Book of Records officially recognizing her as the world's oldest living woman when she turned 115.
Japan has more than 50,000 people over 100-years-old, which is attributed to the country's low fat diet of sushi and fish.
---
Gertrude Weaver - 116
Born on Independence Day 1898, and still said to be an independent woman, Mrs Weaver, of Arkansas, says it's her faith that keeps her going.
The wheelchair-dancing enthusiast wed in 1915, had four children and is now visited regularly in her care home by a 78-year-old granddaughter.
Now spending her days enjoying manicures and Bible study, she told Time magazine her secret to long life.
"Kindness," she said. "Treat people right and be nice to other people the way you want them to be nice to you."
---
Jeralean Talley is 115 and lives in Michigan.
She was born in 1899 and had one child with her husband, Alfred. Thelma, now 76, lives with her mom to take care of her.
She is the one of the oldest living people in America and has revealed the reason why she has lived so long hasn't changed over the years.
She said, "It's all in the good Lord's hands. There's nothing I can do about it."
---
Susannah Mushatt Jones - 115
This feisty New Yorker, born on July 6, 1899, says she doesn't have a secret to long life except that she doesn't drink or smoke and ensures she gets a good night's sleep.
She loves bacon and eats it every morning.
She never had children, but saved her salary to help pay for nieces to go to college.
Another woman who made the list is Emma Morano-Martinuzzi, 115, from Italy.
The record for the world's oldest ever person is still held by Jeanne Calment from France - who passed away in 1997 aged 122.
543
Paranormal, Aliens, & UFOs / Re: Military cover-up Manitoba UFO crash
« on: February 22, 2015, 03:17:39 PM »
Nobody was allowed to leave or enter the reservation at the time and the military had been going door to door talking with residents. They were telling the residents that they are conducting emergency training exercises, but there has been an extreme cold front in Manitoba over the last 2 days and it is extremely dangerous to spend time outdoors for any period, so have ordered all residents to stay inside.
The military has moved in all their equipment effectively blocking any view of what may have crashed into the water or what they are doing there.
The military has moved in all their equipment effectively blocking any view of what may have crashed into the water or what they are doing there.
544
Paranormal, Aliens, & UFOs / Military cover-up Manitoba UFO crash
« on: February 22, 2015, 03:05:47 PM »
In response to reports this week of mysterious lights over Jackhead Reservation in Manitoba, a UFO crash into Lake Winnipeg & military forces on snowmobiles seen pulling a large disc out of the lake, Canadian military say it was just a military training exercise.
On the night of Wednesday, February 18, reports began appearing on social media of lights over Lake Winnipeg.
These were followed by Facebook posts by a Brent Mancheese, "UFO crash reported on the Jackhead reserve in Manitoba, Canada. Apparently the Canadian Military have vehicles lined up on north shore. They are threatening anybody who tries to take pics…lots of eye witnesses. There is a round object being hauled across the lake being pulled by snow mobiles and bombardier … Something was seen going down by 8 fishermen, they reported it…why would they not let the media know if it was a plane crash? Apparently a disc shaped craft was seen crashing through the ice on the lake. At least one person got photographic evidence but has since been detained by the Canadian military."
According to Lt.-Col. Paul Davies, commanding officer 38 Territorial Battalion Group, about 150 military personnel were at the frozen lake taking part in Exercise Arctic Bison 2015, a training program for dealing with emergencies in harsh environments.
He said "There’s no aliens, just my friends in the air force who are out there helping us on this exercise … that was not a UFO. From a distance it may have looked like it was going straight up in the air, but it wasn’t."
An airplane taking off from a frozen lake? What about the crash? What about the disc? What about the photographic evidence? What about the witnesses?
On the night of Wednesday, February 18, reports began appearing on social media of lights over Lake Winnipeg.
These were followed by Facebook posts by a Brent Mancheese, "UFO crash reported on the Jackhead reserve in Manitoba, Canada. Apparently the Canadian Military have vehicles lined up on north shore. They are threatening anybody who tries to take pics…lots of eye witnesses. There is a round object being hauled across the lake being pulled by snow mobiles and bombardier … Something was seen going down by 8 fishermen, they reported it…why would they not let the media know if it was a plane crash? Apparently a disc shaped craft was seen crashing through the ice on the lake. At least one person got photographic evidence but has since been detained by the Canadian military."
According to Lt.-Col. Paul Davies, commanding officer 38 Territorial Battalion Group, about 150 military personnel were at the frozen lake taking part in Exercise Arctic Bison 2015, a training program for dealing with emergencies in harsh environments.
He said "There’s no aliens, just my friends in the air force who are out there helping us on this exercise … that was not a UFO. From a distance it may have looked like it was going straight up in the air, but it wasn’t."
An airplane taking off from a frozen lake? What about the crash? What about the disc? What about the photographic evidence? What about the witnesses?
545
Media, Music, TV, & Movies / They're speeding up shows to fit more commercials in.
« on: February 22, 2015, 01:42:07 PM »
Years ago I noticed Charlie Brown talking way too fast during their traditional Christmas Special. The special was produced at 26 minutes long at a time when they forced a lot less commercials on us. But most modern American TV channels want to run about 10 minutes of commercials every half hour, leaving only 20 minutes for the show. So without cutting too much of the opening & closing credits, & other bits of the show (which they also do), they speed it up to make room for more commercials.
Don't bother looking for the pitch of the voices to get higher though. Modern Technology can speed it up without changing or raising the pitch. I even had the technology on my computers since 1998.
Now they've taken greed a step further. It's not just very old shows they speed up to make room for more ads on TV. The local affiliates, cable, & satellite also want a few more seconds or minutes for their commercials too. So they chop & speed up new shows & movies too.
A few weeks ago I was watching a broadcast of the movie, "Network" on PBS. Disappointed with the picture quality, I pulled out my copy of the movie for a screen-shot comparison for a site. I synced up my copy so that the same thing was playing as what was being broadcast. But after every 5 minutes the broadcasted version was almost a minute fast out of sync with my copy. I'd sync it up again & in about 5 minutes the PBS version would be almost a minute ahead of my copy again.
Even PBS speeds up their media!
So the next time you suspect that they're talking a bit too fast on the Big Bang Theory, they are. Bits of it may have been chopped off too.
Article:
Networks have been looking for ways to pack in more and more commercials. Networks are trying to increase the number of commercials you watch per hour, resorted to speeding up shows, movies, and reruns in an effort to recapture the revenue from tanking ratings.
TBS sped up the Wizard of Oz during its airing last November. TBS, TNT, and TV Land have also sped up shows including Seinfeld and Friends.
Speeding up shows isn't the only way networks are trying to fit in ad time. On TNT, reruns of Law and Order have truncated opening credits—once a minute and 45 seconds long, the introduction is now just 24 seconds. “It feels wrong,” Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman told the Journal about the show's “squashed” opening and closing credits. “It is not how it was shot, written, or imagined. It wasn’t meant to be that way, so don’t make it that way."
In 2014, A&E averaged three more minutes of commercial time per hour than it did in 2013. The History Channel averaged two more minutes year-over-year. The changes come as cable TV is struggling to maintain viewership and fighting for valuable advertising dollars. Still, packing more commercials in per hour may be self-serving to the detriment of networks' relationships with both viewers and advertisers. Commercial clutter not only makes it more difficult for advertisers to get their message across to viewers, it also turns viewers away from the cable TV experience.
“It is a way to keep the revenue from going down as much as the ratings,” a top executive at one major cable programmer said. “The only way we can do it is to double down and stretch the unit load a little more.”
Don't bother looking for the pitch of the voices to get higher though. Modern Technology can speed it up without changing or raising the pitch. I even had the technology on my computers since 1998.
Now they've taken greed a step further. It's not just very old shows they speed up to make room for more ads on TV. The local affiliates, cable, & satellite also want a few more seconds or minutes for their commercials too. So they chop & speed up new shows & movies too.
A few weeks ago I was watching a broadcast of the movie, "Network" on PBS. Disappointed with the picture quality, I pulled out my copy of the movie for a screen-shot comparison for a site. I synced up my copy so that the same thing was playing as what was being broadcast. But after every 5 minutes the broadcasted version was almost a minute fast out of sync with my copy. I'd sync it up again & in about 5 minutes the PBS version would be almost a minute ahead of my copy again.
Even PBS speeds up their media!
So the next time you suspect that they're talking a bit too fast on the Big Bang Theory, they are. Bits of it may have been chopped off too.
Article:
Networks have been looking for ways to pack in more and more commercials. Networks are trying to increase the number of commercials you watch per hour, resorted to speeding up shows, movies, and reruns in an effort to recapture the revenue from tanking ratings.
TBS sped up the Wizard of Oz during its airing last November. TBS, TNT, and TV Land have also sped up shows including Seinfeld and Friends.
Speeding up shows isn't the only way networks are trying to fit in ad time. On TNT, reruns of Law and Order have truncated opening credits—once a minute and 45 seconds long, the introduction is now just 24 seconds. “It feels wrong,” Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman told the Journal about the show's “squashed” opening and closing credits. “It is not how it was shot, written, or imagined. It wasn’t meant to be that way, so don’t make it that way."
In 2014, A&E averaged three more minutes of commercial time per hour than it did in 2013. The History Channel averaged two more minutes year-over-year. The changes come as cable TV is struggling to maintain viewership and fighting for valuable advertising dollars. Still, packing more commercials in per hour may be self-serving to the detriment of networks' relationships with both viewers and advertisers. Commercial clutter not only makes it more difficult for advertisers to get their message across to viewers, it also turns viewers away from the cable TV experience.
“It is a way to keep the revenue from going down as much as the ratings,” a top executive at one major cable programmer said. “The only way we can do it is to double down and stretch the unit load a little more.”
546
Science, Astronomy, & Physics / Niagara Falls not quite froze over yet.
« on: February 20, 2015, 08:26:51 PM »
Niagara Falls isn't froze over yet but it's getting there. It's starting to slow down as more of it freezes.
The more you give, the more we can give back!
PLEASE support our free networks & multimedia with a donation today!
Visitor Map ~ Dots indicate people who visited PSK networks since May 17, 2020. Blinking dots are visitors currently visiting us.
For: science, technology, paranormal, UFOs, aliens, computers, windows, astronomy, physics, & pets.
Hits to our networks since Sept. 30th, 2004
