Years ago I read a comic where the main character was laying in bed thinking " he was a lot bigger & older than me." The next pane said: "It wasn't fair!" The final pane said " insomnia is a strange thing..." And so it is. I imagine being a chronic insomniac I will be adding odd bits at odd times. Maybe I should have called this Liz's Hodge Podge.
I learned a new word today. "Hogmanay" . It's Scottish New Years's and it seems to incorporate something from almost every holiday on the calendar. Trick or Treating, caroling, and Mardi Graw to name a few. They even have dog sled racing & burning the Vikings in effigy. It became the huge holiday in Scotland that it is now because the Presbyterian church would not allow Christmas to be celebrated, even to the point of making it a regular work day. So they made up for it on New Years. It sounds as if this is where we got our custom of a kiss at midnight & a toast. It certainly is where we got Auld Lang Syne. A big part of the celebration is "First Footing" which holds that on New Year's Day or Ne'er Day the new year will be a prosperous one if, at the strike of midnight, a "tall, dark stranger" appears at your door with a
with a small gift, usually cake or whiskey. (How about the best of both worlds - a rum cake?) Women, blonds and redheads are unlucky and bring a year's worth of bad luck. I like the tradition of opening the back door to let the old year out and then the front door to let the new year in. And whatever else, I want to go!
My browser crashed and I lost 2/3's of my blog which I had spent all morning on --- starting very early. I guess they don't have auto save in draft. The question is why don't they? I really don't have the energy to do all that again right now. I was pleased, too, because it had been something other than links. So I'm going to finish this out with some of my clipmarks.
clipped from: www.umces.edu
The article “A Global Crisis for Seagrass Ecosystems” cites the critical role seagrasses play in coastal systems and how coastal development, population growth and the resulting increase of nutrient and sediment pollution have contributed to large-scale losses worldwide.
While recent studies rank seagrass as one of the most valuable habitat in coastal systems, media coverage of other habitats – including salt marshes, mangroves and coral reefs – receive 3 to 100-fold more media attention than seagrass systems.
“Translating scientific understanding of the value of seagrass ecosystems into public awareness, and thus effective seagrass management and restoration, has not been as effective as for other coastal ecosystems, such as salt marshes, mangroves, or coral reefs,” said co-author Dr. Robert Orth of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. “Elevating public awareness about this impending crisis is critical to averting it.
“Translating scientific understanding of the value of seagrass ecosystems into public awareness, and thus effective seagrass management and restoration, has not been as effective as for other coastal ecosystems, such as salt marshes, mangroves, or coral reefs,” said co-author Dr. Robert Orth of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. “Elevating public awareness about this impending crisis is critical to averting it.
: www.nsf.gov
| March 8, 2007 Regardless of Global Warming, Rising CO2 Levels Threaten Marine Life Ocean acidity is rising as seawater absorbs more carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere from power plants and automobiles. The higher acidity threatens marine life, including corals and shellfish, which may become extinct later this century from the chemical effects of carbon dioxide, even if the planet warms less than expected. A new study by University of Illinois atmospheric scientist Atul Jain, graduate student Long Cao and Carnegie Institution scientist Ken Caldeira suggests that future changes in ocean acidification are largely independent of climate change. Full story Source: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
clipped from: www.telegraph.co.uk
The puzzle may have been solved by a study published in the journal Cell Metabolism, which has found a mechanism that could make fat people resistant to leptin, no matter how much is present.
These findings show that a sensor in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus that normally detects leptin -causing a cascade of events that keeps energy balance in check - fails to engage. "Obesity is not a failure of will power, it is a biological failure," said Michael Cowley of Oregon Health & Science University, referring to his group's findings in the mice. "The brain is not aware that the body is obese."
If the same is true in humans, he added, people may be consciously aware that they are overweight but have faulty circuitry that controls appetite, which no longer responds to leptin signals from the body about fat stores and thus no longer regulates hunger accordingly
clipped from: scienceblogs.com
Ever wonder why some women seem to be more ill-tempered than others? University of Pittsburgh researchers have found that behaviors such as anger, hostility and aggression may be genetic, rooted in variations in a serotonin receptor gene. Indrani Halder, Ph.D., of the Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine Program at the University of Pittsburgh, will present the findings today at the American Psychosomatic Society's Annual Meeting, held in Budapest, Hungary.
I always knew that there had to be a reason I could be such a bee-atch. What I want to know is why is it being held at the Psychosomatic Society's Annual Meeting? Does that mean that they only imagined a neurological connection?
As most of you know getting something to look good in both Firefox and IE is almost impossible.
(and I haven't even looked at Opera!) How very annoying.
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