"Right" Thinking 8

Again, I think the thinking is more essential than the "right", but full disclosure: Leamur got a "D" in Freshman Ethics (as a Junior) from Roye Templeton. Um, and failed Philosophy of Law and the State from a lady I liked and can't remember her name now, but I seem to recall she was actually angry about what I wrote in my final exam about utilitarianism. (Fair enough, I was sleep-deprived and totally bull-shitting the exam. No clue what I wrote, even at the time she confronted me with the fact that she would fail me.) I did well in Contractarian Ethics, though, from Dr. Howard Kahane. It was the only course of the 3 that I felt had actual substance, as opposed to "you have to know what these dead people wrote, nevermind why, it's a core course". So, um, Leamur's just not good at being right & it would be only natural for her to prioritize the thinking part. (Right? ;)





[Episode 8 of 12, running here on Saturdays from January 16th through April 3rd.]

C'Mon Every Body Do Your Exercise!

The article in Moderne Medicine is short enough to cut'n'paste the whole thing:

Children who are aerobically fit may have a higher level of academic achievement, and girls who participate in organized physical activity may have lower body fat as they reach adulthood, according to research presented this week at the American Heart Association's joint conference of the Council on Epidemiology and Prevention and the Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism, held from March 2 to 5 in San Francisco.

In one study, Lesley A. Cottrell, Ph.D., of West Virginia University in Morgantown, and colleagues assessed fitness levels and standardized academic test scores in 725 West Virginia fifth-graders, and compared the data to fitness and academic performance when the students were in seventh grade. They found that children who were fit at the start and end of the study had the highest average scores in standardized tests in reading, math, science and social studies, while children who were not fit at the start and end of the study had the lowest academic performance.

In second study, Jennie Phillips, Ph.D., of the University of Maryland in College Park, and colleagues studied 2,379 girls for 10 years. Compared to girls who never reported any organized physical activity from ages 9 to 10 to 15 to 16, they found that those who consistently reported some organized physical activity during those periods had significantly lower average body fat at ages 18 to 19 (31.7 versus 35.4 percent).

"These findings have significant implications for the role of physical activity and physical education in the primary school system for potentially improving children's academic performance," Cottrell and colleagues conclude.

Methods for persuading people to exercise vary. Here's Ernie's method:




And just because Michelle Obama is gorgeous (as well as on a mission), we'll see what she recommends, even though it involves Elmo (Most. Annoying. Muppet. Ever.):

Butterfly Zombie Takedown

Computer/Net security fascinates me the way very poisonous snakes do. Curiously admirable, but scary.


A "12.7 million strong zombie network" named Mariposa botnet was taken down in December, and the article has this interview about it:





The following video walks through how to install RUBotted to check your own home computer for bot activity. (Per the review, RUBotted is not a guarantee that there won't still be bots lurking in your 'pooter's subconscious, of course.)

Two Favs in One 'Toon

One of the great things about the Coyote/RoadRunner cartoons is that they do not require speech (although they do rely on English writing for the signs and labels and kabooms and such), but in this cartoon, Wile E speaks. It's all good. :)





"Why do they always want to do it the hard way?"








In this one, Bugs is standing in for the Road Runner, and he deconstructs the 'toon while he's at it :)