posted by amanda on Dec 28
America’s Most Literate Cities
Way to go, Denver!
Not only are we one of the healthiest states, but we’re quite literate as well. I’m telling you… this is my kind of place 
Archive for the ‘News’ Category
posted by amanda on Nov 19
FOXNews.com - Vegetarian Diet Melts Fat Away - Health News | Current Health News | Medical News
Researchers have found that people who stuck to a vegetarian diet for at least one year lost more weight than those on a standard low-fat diet. And they shed considerably more excess flab than those who didn’t stick with the meatless plan.
There’s been a lot of good press recently for vegetarian diets. The biggies last week were that a vegetarian diet reduces your risk of chronic heart disease and lowers your risk of breast cancer. Another study spoke in favor of soy, which is a big deal because soy consumption is something that a lot of non-vegetarians are worried about.
Its hip to be vegetarian 
posted by amanda on Nov 12
“A sandwich is not commonly understood to include burritos, tacos and quesadillas, which are typically made with a single tortilla and stuffed with a choice filling of meat, rice, and beans,” Locke wrote in a decision released last week.
Thank goodness that we have judges around so that such matters can be resolved!
posted by amanda on Oct 31
LONDON — In the first comprehensive global study of sexual behavior, British researchers found that people aren’t losing their virginity at ever younger ages, married people have the most sex, and there is no firm link between promiscuity and sexually transmitted diseases.
I’m not exactly sure why it is surprising that married people have sex more often than teens. Lets think about this - pretty much every married person has someone to have sex with… the same is not true for teens.
Its interesting to see the myths that were proved false in this study. Contrary to popular belief, sexual activity is not starting earlier, women tend to lose their virginity earlier than men, people in more developed countries (not Africa or other countries with high STD rates) are more likely to have multiple partners, and married women are more at risk for STDs, because they are less likely to have safe sex.
Interesting.
posted by amanda on Oct 25
MetroWestDailyNews.com - Local / Regional News: Police say Myspace tiff led to biting
A Framingham man angry that his ex-girlfriend removed him as a friend from her Myspace.com Web page, repeatedly bit, punched and then choked her on the weekend, police said.
Hmmm, I can’t imagine why she would possible remove him from her friends list. He seems like such a great guy :/
posted by amanda on Oct 20
ATLANTA — A lovesick teenage girl slammed her car into oncoming traffic in a suicide attempt as she counted down “ten, nine, eight …” in text messages to the female classmate who spurned her, authorities said. The teenager survived but a woman in the other car, a mother of three, died.Sixteen-year-old Louise Egan Brunstad faces a charge of felony murder for ramming her family’s Mercedes-Benz head-on into a smaller Daewoo driven by 30-year-old Nancy Salado-Mayo of Mexico who was killed. District Attorney Paul Howard said he likely will try Brunstad as an adult. If convicted, she faces an automatic life sentence.
How heartbreaking :( As an oh-so-old mid-twenty-something, let me say that my decision making skills were very bad as a teenager. Sadly, I still think they were “above average.” Teenagers can’t predict the consequences of their actions, and this is a great example. What a tragedy for all involved.
posted by amanda on Oct 12
HAMILTON, Ohio — A city prosecutor was charged with indecency after a security camera caught him walking around naked in a government building after business hours.
Hmm, OK. I can’t say that I’ve ever done that after hours at any of my jobs…
posted by amanda on Oct 12
Researchers Say Intelligence and Diseases May Be Linked in Ashkenazic Genes - New York Times
A team of scientists at the University of Utah has proposed that the unusual pattern of genetic diseases seen among Jews of central or northern European origin, or Ashkenazim, is the result of natural selection for enhanced intellectual ability.
…the Utah researchers argue, evolution has had to counter a sudden threat by favoring any mutation that protected against it, whatever the side effects. Ashkenazic diseases like Tay-Sachs, they say, are a side effect of genes that promote intelligence.
…Ashkenazi Jews occupied a different social niche from their European hosts, and that is where any selective effect must have operated, the Utah researchers say. From A.D. 800, when the Ashkenazi presence in Europe is first recorded, to about 1700, Ashkenazi Jews held a restricted range of occupations, which required considerable intellectual acumen. In France, most were moneylenders by A.D. 1100. Expelled from France in 1394, and from parts of Germany in the 15th century, they moved eastward and were employed by Polish rulers first as moneylenders and then as agents who paid a large tax to a noble and then tried to collect the amount, at a profit, from the peasantry. After 1700, the occupational restrictions on Jews were eased.
As to how the disease mutations might affect intelligence, the Utah researchers cite evidence that the sphingolipid disorders promote the growth and interconnection of brain cells. Mutations in the DNA repair genes, involved in second cluster of Ashkenazic diseases, may also unleash growth of neurons.
In describing what they see as the result of the Ashkenazic mutations, the researchers cite the fact that Ashkenazi Jews make up 3 percent of the American population but won 27 percent of its Nobel prizes, and account for more than half of world chess champions. They say that the reason for this unusual record may be that differences in Ashkenazic and northern European I.Q. are not large at the average, where most people fall, but become more noticeable at the extremes; for people with an I.Q. over 140, the proportion is 4 per 1,000 among northern Europeans but 23 per 1,000 with Ashkenazim.
When I was pregnant with my second (my son), I had a really mean OBGYN who worked in the same office as my main OBGYN. The mean one sat me down in his office and told me that my son would probably have Tay-Sachs because of my Jewish (Ashkenazic) blood. My family history made it so that my son was incredibly likely to suffer from Tay-Sachs, and this doctor told me that I was a horrible mother who was risking my child’s life when I refused to take the genetic test during my pregnancy. I told him that it didn’t matter because I would have my child no matter what happened.
Now why wasn’t that doctor telling me that my son was way more likely to become a Nobel Prize winner or a genius? 
That would’ve been a much more pleasant conversation.
And hey, doesn’t this tie in nicely with my post about IQ and breastfeeding? No wonder I’m a breastfeeder! Its all about the Ashkenazic blood, baby! LOL.
posted by amanda on Oct 11
Children Inherit Higher IQ from Mom’s Brains, Not Her Milk - CME Teaching Brief® - MedPage Today
The mother’s IQ was a better predictor of whether she would breastfeed than race, education, age, poverty status, smoking, the home environment, or the child’s birth weight or birth order. One standard deviation increase in maternal IQ (15 points) more than doubled the odds that a woman would breastfeed her child.
Hmm, well OK. You can’t argue with science, I suppose
I guess this means that a Mensa meeting won’t be too different from a La Leche League meeting.