Saturday, May 21, 2011

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES

Today is quite a contrast from yesterday's high energy level.  Because it has been raining steadily since yesterday afternoon I woke up achy and sluggish which has lasted all day. 
But I laughed at the rain today as I got groceries in the morning and mid afternoon I put on my long raincoat and went walking in it.  I love doing that.  Scientists do not recognize that weather has anything to do with arthritis because they do not have any empirical knowledge, which for us the unlettered and ordinary, just means there is no proof.  Can millions of suffering people be wrong?  The difficulty is that is does not afflict everyone at the same time nor does happen every time to individuals.  Not that I'm leaving the Super Brights off the hook but they should be, and likely are, searching the many layers and complexities of the environment and human biology and have yet to find one iota of causation.  Ah well, perhaps it will keep them humble.




The ants were right.

Friday, May 20, 2011

IT'S OFFICIAL SPRING IS HERE


I took quite a few pictures today on the longest walk I've taken since last year.  Since it has begun to rain I shall save some of them for tomorrow.

I will remember the name of this succulent-type plant in the middle of the night, for now it escapes me but it has pretty clumps of flowers held on high stems.


This lovely tree belongs to a lady named Isabelle and we had nice little chat.


It appears that this bleeding heart has been growing awhile and enjoying the cool dampness.


A flowering shrub just getting started.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

THE FIRST OUTDOOR PICTURE








Of course my camera and I are still in the getting acquainted period but already I'm a critic.  While the Canon SX220 HS is the easiest camera I've ever used it does not have the crispness of my Sony DHC-7 15X.  So the trade off is it is pocket sized, user friendly and light.  I can live with that. 
However I'll check the settings to see if some sort of an adjustment can be made.

You likely can understand why I like my new camera when you see them side by side.







THE TERMINATOR EMBRACES 'THAT BIPARTISAN THING'


QUOTE OF THE DAY
"It's over. There's no political future," said Patrick Dorinson, a Republican who worked on Schwarzenegger's 2003 campaign and in his administration early on. "I'm just disgusted. It's the only dang bipartisan thing these guys do — cheat on their wives. John Edwards, Arnold Schwarzenegger— tell me the difference."

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

HOW NEW IS MY NEW CAMERA?



This new!~!
 My morning plans have been interrupted by Canada Post and I will have to defer the 'getting to know you' phase for a few hours but I'm so anxious to get my hands on it.  It's a good thing I've already had my walk, dusted the bedroom, scrubbed the last of my kitchen cupboard doors which have been an ongoing and unpleasant chore due to their age, and because none of the above would have gotten done today. 
Also no memory card came with it.... SOMEONE didn't check the check box on the list....good help is soooooooooo hard to get now days but suffice say if it had a memory card I would not be typing this right now. 
On the positive side they did send an HDMI Cable HTC-1OO so that I can immediately not see any pictures on my TV.
For now you will have to look at my offering from this morning's rather chilly walk as you can see spring is poking along very slowly in this part of the globe.





Monday, May 16, 2011

YOUR HAPPINESS GENE

Jan-Emmanuel De Neve said:

"It has long been suspected that this gene plays a role in mental health but this is the first study to show that it is instrumental in shaping our individual happiness levels.

The results of our study suggest a strong link between happiness and this functional variation in the 5-HTT gene. Of course, our well-being isn't determined by this one gene - other genes and especially experience throughout the course of life will continue to explain the majority of variation in individual happiness. But this finding helps to explain why we each have a unique baseline level of happiness and why some people tend to be naturally happier than others, and that's in no small part due to our individual genetic make-up."
A gene which regulates the movement of serotonin in the brain has been labeled the "happiness gene" by researchers from the London School of Economics and reported in the Journal of Human Genetics. This is the first study to demonstrate a direct link between an individual's happiness and a specific genetic condition. The researchers measured people's satisfaction with life to define happiness.

Behavioral economist Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, and team gathered genetic information from over 2,500 individuals in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. They focused on which functional variant of the 5-HTT gene the participants possessed.

The 5-HTT gene has the operating code for serotonin transporters within our neuron cell walls. This gene has an allele (variation) which can be either short or long. The long allele works better, has more gene expression and more serotonin transporters in the cell membrane. We can have a genotype which may be short-short, long-long, short-long, or long-short - this we inherit from our parents.

The researchers asked participants this question: "How satisfied are you with your life as a whole?" They could answer: "Very satisfied, satisfied, dissatisfied, very dissatisfied, neither". They then compared participants' genotypes with their answers.

The researchers found that:
  • 35% of those with the long-long version of the gene were very satisfied with their life
  • 34% of those with the long-long version were satisfied with their life
  • 19% of those with the short-short version were very satisfied/satisfied with their life
  • 26% of those with the short-short version were dissatisfied with their life
  • 20% of those with the long-long version were dissatisfied with their life
  • Those with one long allele had an 8.5% higher chance of being very satisfied compared to those with the short-short version
  • Those with two long alleles had a 17% higher chance of being very satisfied compared to those with the short-short version
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve said:

"It has long been suspected that this gene plays a role in mental health but this is the first study to show that it is instrumental in shaping our individual happiness levels.

The results of our study suggest a strong link between happiness and this functional variation in the 5-HTT gene. Of course, our well-being isn't determined by this one gene - other genes and especially experience throughout the course of life will continue to explain the majority of variation in individual happiness. But this finding helps to explain why we each have a unique baseline level of happiness and why some people tend to be naturally happier than others, and that's in no small part due to our individual genetic make-up."


Source: Journal of Human Genetics

Written by Christian Nordqvist

Sunday, May 15, 2011

IT'S PUNDAY!

Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.