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[ Friday, September 29, 2006 13:13 PDT ]
Legacy Journal: Chronology v Biology: Making the Age Grade
Section:
Science and Technology
Summary:
You may be fit for duty, but are you fit for life? That question has been answered by the promotion folks at some of the nation’s health, fitness and athletic clubs. According to the nytimes, Bally has partnered with RealAge and for a fee they will score your self reporting form and give you an age and sex adjusted fittness grade.
Then asked, ” How are you doing?”, you can now report your latest workout regime score. “Five strokes, excuse me, years under par.” Oprah, eat your heart out.
BTW, hearts and arteries age even in the absence of atherosclerosis. Part of aging is loss of muscle stretchablity. Skin elasticity, eye lens autofocus, aortic vessel recoil and tendon rebound are additional examples of tissues dynamics that change with time.
Main:
For the rest of us in Davis who do not have a personal trainer. here are some alternatives:
* If you are over 80, the Davis Aquatic Masters at damfast.org offer free year around senior lane wrkouts at 10:00, M-F at the outdoor Davis Civic Pool near City Hall, the site of the new Brady Family Aquatic Center.
* Walk and Talk with free pedometers leaves the nearby Davis Senior Center for the UCDavis Arboretum at 0900, M-W-F.
* The new OLLI program for fall fitness classes for seniors at the UCDavis ARC with Coach Jon Vochatzer starts at 0800 on Monday, October 3.
Use of the available clocks, mirrors and weight scales is optional, but recommended only to those stout enough to chart their course without fear of a mixed feedback message.
Meanwhile go Aggies.
In addition, we note that that that the top seeded Blue Devils of Davis High School are hosting the two day 2006 Northern California Girls Water Polo Championships at the sun drenched UCDavis Schaal Aquatic Center. The team, lead by senior Dakota Mohr, defeated St. Francis of Sacramento in the finals, 7-5
Plus, all fall IM, club and NCAA sports are now in full swing on the campus as the 5,500 class of 2010 floods and overflows the campus.
More:
Calendar: • Davis Community: • Davis Aquatic Masters: • Senior Center: • Senior Learning Unlimited: • Diet, Nutrition & Health: • News: • The Water Cooler: • Personal Pearls: • Talking Points: • Young at Heart: • What is New?: • (0) Comments: • (0) Trackbacks: • Permalink:
[ Tuesday, September 26, 2006 15:00 PDT ]
Legacy Journal: Noise Analysis
Section:
Briefs
Summary:
The scientific investigation of complex and dynamic systems like global climate, national economies and species specific evolutionary genomics often involves large amounts of data, signal analysis, model building, statistical analysis for pattern formation and recognition. Patterns may be obscured and distorted by "noise" or created by the biases and algorithms that gird the tools of analysis.
The Oceans are an example of a very complex and poorly described system. Enter the lowly and humble krill.
Main:
A recent nytimes science observer article focused on a paper focused on the significant effects of the feeding habits of krill in numbers in British Colombia fjords on the mixing of ocean waters between the surface and 300 ft. Talk about ecology and “the butterfly effect”. And we thought it was all about currents, tides, waves, conveyors, and such.
Meanwhile:
* The California Attorney General is considering a class action suit against U.S. automobile manufacturers for “poisoning” California air with carbon dioxide.
* A bill from California Legislature and signed by the Governor, targets state cement plants, oil refineries and fossil fuel electrical generation plants with carbon dioxide emission penalties.
* James Hanson, PhD of NASA and the Goddard Institute of Space Science in NYC, the career carbon dioxide whistle blower, has issued yet another dire warning on the environmental emergency of accelerating, human caused, global warming, The publication is the Proceeding of the National Academy of Science.
And in the “science we already know “category, investigators have again confirmed that:
* Plant photosyntheses rates and productivity are increased in a carbon dioxide enriched atmosphere.
* The ocean bottoms sequester large amounts of carbonates.
* Atmospheric methane, a product of digestion and marshlands, is a potentially powerful greenhouse gas.
Meanwhile:
* With falling oil and natural gas prices, the froth is off many Greenwich hedge funds in Greenwich and ethanol plans in California.
More:
Amazing: • Calendar: • IT3 Tech: • Internet Tech: • Google: • Google Video: • Moral Clarity: • Nature: • News: • Global: • Hot Spot: • Really? A Reality Check: • Science and Technology: • By the Numbers: • (0) Comments: • (0) Trackbacks: • Permalink:
[ Friday, September 22, 2006 12:58 PDT ]
Friday Muse: Blood Money
Section:
Book Reviews
Summary:
T. Christian Miller, an latimes investigative reporter based in Washington, D.C., has written his first book, Blood Money, published by Little, Brown & CO, in August of 2006 on reconstruction contracting in Iraq by U.S. agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. AID. Over three years Miller made four reporting field trips to Iraq. There he connected the “long armed screwdriver” from Washington, D.C. to construction sites Iraq. His strongest stories as reported by
Terry Gross
in her Sept 12th, NPR, FreshAir Podcast interview with Miller, were the facilities security contract, the nation wide Cell Phone contract, and the health care facilites construction and management contract. The teamsters contracting for convoy driving work in Iraq at $100,000 are viewed in a more possive light.
Main:
Subtitled, “Wasted Billions, Lost Lives, and Corporate Greed in Iraq,” Miller’s book takes a dim view of of the shortcoming of the rebuilding effort by U.S based contractors like Halliburton of Texas and Bechtel of San Francisco. For example, a $50 millon , tertiary care hospital Pediatric Hospital construction project has been abandoned as being both unfinishable and a bad idea from the outset.
* The fact is, those Iraqi professionals, like medical specilists, have long joined the hundreds of thousands who have relocated their families to safety outside their country.
* The good news is that many grade schools have been painted, refurbished , and open for the new school year.
* American miliary personnel are not being used for many support services like food and logistics.
* The real-time accounting by U.S. Departmental IGs has been effect, particularly compared to the alleged fraud ,waste and abuse of funds and resources by the Iraqi Ministries.
* Meanwhile, Iraqi oil revenue money and reconstruction planning policy is now in the hands of the newly elected Parliament.
More:
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[ Sunday, September 17, 2006 16:25 PDT ]
The joys of Davis
Section:
Book Reviews
Summary:
A moments reflection and observation about Davis, the Great Valley and the Sierra gives one pause to wonder at the power of place and culture, geographic and demographics on the lives and fortunes of us all.
* The current travel reports of nytimes reporter, Nick Kristoff and his journalism student companion for the next two weeks, the WHO initiative to use DDT as a householdspray to reduce the attack rate of mosquito vectored malaria, and the Gates Foundation announcement of an African based agricultural initiative to reduce hunger and poverty.
Main:
The scope of hunger, poverty, disease, accidental trauma and human on human violence in Africa is staggering. However, the good news is that good people are rising the the challenge of focused funding that can allow local talent to improve crop production, develop safe and reliable water resources, and reduce infectious disease.
* Some of the success of the Rockefeller Foundation funded success of Norman Borlaug who did cereal grain plant research 40 years ago that made for a “Green Revolution” and a 1970 Nobel Prize.
* Plant pathologists, horticulturalists and geneticist from around the world at trained at UCDavis. One of the lessons learned in Davis is local colloquial English. One of the cultural advantage that may local take for granted is their first mother tongue, American English, the first language of science, technology, the media, communication and transportation.
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[ Saturday, September 09, 2006 11:58 PDT ]
Global Warming: A Hot Topic for the Economist and Risk Capitalists
Section:
Business
Summary:
The current issue of the Economist magazine features its online take on its cover feature on global warming. For non scientists it is reasonably factual and balanced on what is known and what is unknown about climate change. Important is the perspective and the long timeline of global temperatures. Of interest is the effect of temperature on the evolution of species, notably homo sapiens and the influence of temperature on the demographics of humans over the past 150,000 years.
Main:
One perspective is that the measurable changes in the temperature of the oceans, atmosphere and the earths surface has been small since the beginning of the Industrial Age and the human use of the science and technology of fossil fuels to power food production, processing, preservation and distribution. Transportation, Construction, Public Utilities, Communication and Public Services have similarly benefited from cheap, available and reliable power.
Meanwhile, sunsetting politicians and policy wonks, Tony Blair and William Jefferson Clinton, have joined the Silicon Valley folks who see investment opportunities in carbon caps and trading, alternative energy sources and conservation technology.
More:
Cal Water Policy: • Calendar: • Demographics: • Earth Sciences:: • News: • Global: • Hot Spot: • (0) Comments: • (0) Trackbacks: • Permalink:
[ Thursday, September 07, 2006 13:47 PDT ]
The Fall Season in the Heartland: Harvest Mood
Section:
Columns
Summary:
The pace is beginning to quicken in the Heartland with the first of the fall full moons. School is in session, the fall sports season started, the cross country whippets are working out at the Woody Wilson tract along with the Clydesdales footballers, and the burley water polo guys. UCDavis football travels to Texas for a game with nationally ranked TCU. Freshman Aggie class enrollment is up and orientation has started.
Preparations are underway for a full slate of five football saturday’s in October, including the Bears of Cal and the Ducks of Oregon at Memorial Stadium on the 8th. With a 32 train eight county 0500 to 2200 wwekday Capital Corridor train schedule in Davis town, the trip to the senior sister campus by the bay will be a breeze. BTW, bike go free.
Farmers in Yolo country are looking at good yields and Strong markets for their products. The prospects for continuing good weather is good news for the grape growers in the Great Central and Napa Sonoma Mendecino Valleys. Tomatoes, alfalfa, rice and wheat stables are doing well.
Finally, this site is now updated to EE 1.5 with the simple Commercial PayPal Modue 1.0.
Main:
So what is next?
* Two a day workouts, swimming time trials, pathology , physiology and genomicsconferences, Pen Pals, ESL partners, IH Great Decisions, OLLI Osher Fall Classes, family birthdays, journaling, Googling and all the rest. Whew , time for a break.
* Meanwhile the silly season of off year National election campaigning has begun. Many bloggers will be following and fact checking and satirizing the politicians, their hirlings, their tactics, their funders and their other supporters. It will be interesting.
* Meanwhile, tennis is also in the air from the east coast featuring Andre and Billy Jean in nostalgia roles.
More:
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