Five Kingdoms

5 Civilizations compete to become the greatest in all the land.

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remy6archer

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Plus-One This: Proof That Google Plus Will Prevail | Fast Company

Google Plus is really Google?s version of Google. It?s the groundwork for a level of search quality difficult to fathom based on what we know today. It?s also the Borg-like hive-queen that connects all the other Google products like YouTube, Google Maps, Images, Offers, Books, and more. And Google is starting to roll these products all up into a big ball of awesome user experience by way of Google Plus, and that snowball is starting to pick up speed and mass.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GerdsTumblings/~3/lRPl9XPLUK0/40412057151

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Military autopsies: What new findings reveal about heart disease

Newer research shows U.S. servicemen who were autopsied showed signs of heart disease that researchers say highlights an ongoing need to help prevent the disease, beginning early in life. The surprise is that even 27 year olds were found tohave severe coronary heart disease.

The finding, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), December 26, 2012, found an 8.5% prevalence of coronary artery disease in servicemen autopsied between 2001 and 2011.

The study, conducted by Bryant J. Webber, M.D., of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Md., and colleagues included all U.S. service members who died of combat or unintentional injuries in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom/New Dawn.

Severe heart disease found in young service members

The researchers classified heart disease findings as mild, moderate or severe. Severe coronary atherosclerosis was present in 2.3 percent of service members; moderate in 4.7 percent, and minimal in 1.5 percent.

Severe atherosclerosis was defined as 50% or more narrowing of the arteries that supply blood flow to the heart.

As expected, high blood pressure and cholesterol in addition to obesity was associated with a higher prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD).

Other factors linked to heart disease among service members whose average age was just 26 included lower education level and higher body mass index upon entrance into the military.

Even though the findings show heart disease prevalence is on the decline compared to what was discovered from military service member studies from the Korean and Viet Nam wars, there is still a need for further improvement.

Prevention of coronary artery disease has to start early

The authors write: "Military and civilian health care systems should continue to help patients reduce their cardiovascular risk factors, beginning in childhood and continuing throughout adult life. Despite remarkable progress in prevention and treatment, cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States and other developed nations, and even small improvements in the prevalence of smoking and other risk factors may reduce death rates further and prolong healthy lives."

Studies show children can develop risk factors for heart disease as early as age 5. One such finding showed 5 to 17 year olds have at least one risk factor for coronary artery disease. One of the largest risks cited is increased rates of childhood obesity.

In 2011, the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests children receive at least one cholesterol screening blood test before age 21 in recommendations that also drew some criticism.

They also recommended if dietary and lifestyle changes fail to lower lipid levels after six months, children over age 10 should be placed on statin drugs ? anti-cholesterol prescription medications.

Weight loss, smoking cessation, consuming a Mediterranean or primarily plant based diet with plenty of fresh food, avoiding excess salt, keeping stress levels manageable (perhaps by changing your perspective) and regular daily physical activity are all known and proven interventions for the whole family that can ensure a longer and healthier life.

Heart disease leads to major disability, produces a heavy financial burden on our health care system and on individuals and leads to the need for medications that can have adverse side effects and are also costly.

What you can do

It?s also important to know you really can reverse existing coronary artery disease. Dean Ornish who is a pioneer has a program that ? only if you?re serious ? can help turn your life around. His program is proven to reverse even severe forms of coronary heart disease without drugs or surgery.

You might even consider the Ornish diet, which was ranked #1 by U.S. News & World Report for the past two years. His program is offered at hospitals throughout the U.S. and is covered by Medicare.

The autopsy finding from young service member autopsies supports the notion that heart disease is a progressive disease that starts in childhood and highlights the need for strong public health messages that can curb the incidence of heart attack, stroke and other types of cardiovascular disease that kills 600,000 people in the United States each year. The good news is it's possible to reverse heart disease and plenty of tools to tap into if you're motivated.

Citation:
JAMA. 2012;308(24):2624-2625

Resources:

Journal of Pediatrics
2007

Preventive Medicine Research Institute

CDC.gov

Image credit: Morguefile

Source: http://www.emaxhealth.com/1020/military-autopsies-what-new-findings-reveal-about-heart-disease

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patelpartiv: When Going To An Eye Doctor | health and fitness article ...

Your eyes are very important for you need the sense of sight to be able to do most of your activities. That is why it is important for one to visit an eye doctor in San Antonio even though he has no problems with his vision. When visiting an ophthalmologist, patients should also prepare themselves.

One thing that you need to do when you want to seek an ophthalmologist in San Antonio is to look for a doctor that will examine you. This can be an easy task if you already have someone that you always go to. However, if this is not the case for you, you should do your homework before going to anyone's clinic.

Even if you will only go to the visit to for a San Antonio eye check up, preparation is still something that is necessary. This is because it can help make the examination or check up easier on your part. Doctors would appreciate it if their patients are prepared for this helps make the session faster and more productive.

Part of the preparation is to get all the necessary things ready before you will go to the clinic. To know what you should bring or do, contact the clinic and ask for the necessary instructions. If you are wearing an eyeglass or contact, you will be asked to bring this. It is also better if you can list your allergies and health history.

If you have health insurance, find out first if this will be accepted in the clinic where you will go to. It would be too inconvenient to go there only to find out that you are not covered. You will also need to bring with you your insurance information for this will be needed by the clinic or any other health facility.

You should take note of the tests the might be done to you. If you know what kind test will be done, you can prepare yourself properly. There are some tests that need some preparation. Doctors will usually tell their patients what to do in advance. If the test is going to impair your vision temporarily, make sure to bring someone with you.

Once you are finished with your visit, you need to be sure that you have taken the necessary things with you especially your prescription. Do not leave is you still have many questions. It is better if you will talk with your doctor while he is still around.

An eye doctor in San Antonio can help you take care of your vision. It is advisable for adults to go to him to have themselves checked. This helps avoid vision problems and deal with issues right away.

Source: http://healthandfitnessupdates.blogspot.com/2012/12/when-going-to-eye-doctor.html

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Source: http://gaitebuke.posterous.com/when-going-to-an-eye-doctor-health-and-fitnes

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Source: http://patelpartiv.blogspot.com/2012/12/when-going-to-eye-doctor-health-and.html

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Take One: 3 Reasons You Should be Marketing on YouTube | Miami ...

Real estate marketing on YouTube? It may seem crazy, but it's a fantastic medium for real estate agents.

By Peter Ricci

The goal for any real estate agent is to find a fresh, exciting marketing platform that can render their properties and business in a new, enticing manner to potential clients, and Internet video, YouTube specifically, is a fabulous way to accomplish such a goal.

Though it may seem strange to equate ?YouTube? and ?business? in the same breath ? this is, after all, the domain of cute cats, laughing babies and FailBlog ? but YouTube really is a great medium for business, especially real estate-related business, and we?re going to list three reasons why in our first story on YouTube.

Real Estate Marketing on YouTube: 3 Reasons

Reason One: YouTube is Darned Popular
Marketing is almost always the most effective when it utilizes a popular medium, and the popularity of YouTube and Internet video on the whole is exploding. Not only is YouTube the second most popular search engine on the Internet by volume, but according to the latest numbers from?Nielsen, Americans stream as much as 15 billion videos a month, and Internet video has increased in viewings by 35 percent year-over-year. And if that weren?t enough, the CISCO VNI Benchmark Report estimates that Internet video traffic will make up 54 percent of all consumer traffic by 2016. So for its popularity alone, you should be strongly considering YouTube marketing.

Reason Two: Efficiency
Real estate is a numbers game ? the price of residences, the amount of property taxes, commission rates, etc. ? but it?s also a strongly sensuous field, meaning the senses play a huge role in the appeal of a property; and video is able to efficiently incorporate many different sensory details in a short span of time. Just think: In a 30-second video, you could show the image of a property and the sounds of its landscape, along with textual information about the home and even still images to further complement your video. And all that information can be edited and syndicated for not just YouTube, but iTunes, Pinterest, Flickr, Facebook and your personal website and blog.

Reason Three: The Human Touch
One of the struggles of real estate is capturing the emotion of a property, the spark that allows potential homebuyers to see themselves as the home?s new owner. Video can be a great way to capture that in how it emphasizes the human touch. You can speak on video; you can appear on camera; you can emphasize certain qualities of the property; you can play music, etc. Altogether, you can utilize a wide number of tools to fully show why a home is right for someone!

Let?s not get ahead of ourselves here, though, because as with any form of marketing, there are severe pitfalls to using YouTube and Internet video for your marketing needs. As Rich Brooks pointed out on Social Media Examiner, 35 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute; how can you stand out and produce great videos? That will be the focus of our next article!

Source: http://miamiagentmagazine.com/take-one-3-reasons-you-should-be-marketing-on-youtube/

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'Cheapskate' gets wife to eat theater trash

TLC

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, TODAY

Movie concessions are awfully expensive, but that doesn't mean moviegoers should pinch pennies by rooting around for half-consumed snacks from the theater trash. Well, unless you're Roy Haynes, who appears on Tuesday night's episode of the TLC show "Extreme Cheapskates."

Roy actually forks over the cash to take his wife to a movie, but brings his own fruit to snack on. That's not enough for his wife, who wants some actual movie-theater popcorn.

Leaving his wife in the theater while he goes to throw away the peel from the home-brought banana he just snarfed, Roy halts at the theater trash can -- and the mental-cheapskate wheels start turning.

From one trash can, he retrieves a popcorn bag with some kernels still in it. From another, he rescues a soda cup with ice and some liquid still inside. He then takes the items into the men's restroom and dumps out the contents before bringing the cup and bag to the snack bar to utilize the theater's free refill policy. (Hey, at least he washed out the soda cup!)

When he presents the treats to his wife, she's so thrilled she kisses him. But how will she react after she watches the episode and learns that her goodies were recycled garbage?

Roy's episode of "Extreme Cheapskates" airs Tuesday night at 10 p.m. on TLC.

Related content:

Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2012/10/30/14809999-extreme-cheapskate-tricks-wife-into-eating-movie-snacks-out-of-the-trash?lite

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Dot Earth Blog: Two Views of a Storm in Climate Context

4:38 p.m. | Updated with more scientists? input at the end. }
In the hours before Hurricane Sandy thundered ashore, igniting power stations and Queens neighborhoods and darkening urban and rural communities alike, I filed two pieces for Dot Earth. The first, ?The #Frankenstorm in Climate Context,? was on the storm in the context of climate history and the science pointing to greenhouse-driven climate change. The second was on the impact of our tribal nature on climate communication, including my own.

Yesterday, as the winds here in the Hudson Valley rose but before my second piece was posted (and before our power and Internet access were cut as a tree fell down the road), I received an e-mail message from Dan Miller, an engineer and?venture capitalist?with deep climate concerns, whose name will be familiar to some here because?he helped James Hansen, the NASA climate scientist, craft ?Game Over for Climate,? a May Op-Ed article in The Times.

Miller strongly disagreed with my discussion of the science revealing past patterns of extreme storminess in the Northeast and the science pointing to a rising human influence on some (but not all) kinds of extreme weather. The exchange is worth posting here now (Miller gave permission), to give you a sense of how intelligent people with related, if not identical, goals can interpret a large body of science very differently:

MILLER:

I just read your piece on Hurricane Sandy, where you make the claim (or at least imply) that it is difficult to attribute the storm to climate change. ?You point to studies that show that hurricanes have intensified 4 times since the last ice age with a period of about 3000 years.

Your intent is to imply that the current record-breaking storm may be due to natural variation rather than man-made climate change (or at least it?s hard to tell the difference). ?As you know, ?The climate has changed before!? is one of the myths that climate change deniers repeat the most. ?Of course, the fact that climate change has changed before is, itself, not a myth. ?However, the implications of the claim that the current changes we are observing are not man-made and/or will not be dangerous are myths.

Do you really think the fact that waters are warmer and atmospheric moisture content is higher now due to man-made global warming (not to mention the ?blocking high? over Greenland due to Arctic climate change) may be less of an influence on Hurricane Sandy than some other currently unobserved changes to our climate that occurred 3000 years ago?

I have a prepared a Climate Change Briefing for Policy makers at the request of a congressman which I have attached for your review [available here]. ?On the last page of the document I address the ?But the climate has changed before!? myth. ?Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions about the briefing.

I also refer you to a piece I wrote long ago?comparing climate change to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.?In that piece I point out that NASA managers asked Thiokol engineers to first prove that the shuttle would blow up in order to scrub the launch. ?Of course, that is the wrong question! ?They should have asked for assurance that the flight would be safe in order to launch.?Your piece on Hurricane Sandy (and others, like your response to Jim Hansen?s Op Ed on the increase in extremely hot summers) are from the point of view of the NASA managers deciding to launch the Challenger. ?While there is a plethora of evidence suggesting that the path we are on is fraught with peril, you seem to want to focus on the uncertainties in the details of the evidence, rather than taking the prudent course.
When you have the largest Atlantic storm in recorded history that is being feed by unusually warm ocean waters (+5?F) and is being steered in a very unusual direction by a ?3-sigma? blocking higher over Greenland after the largest Arctic sea ice melt in human history, you might want to consider the ?steroid? hypothesis a bit more.

REVKIN:

First, my only ?intent? is to follow the science and assess where it leads in terms of policy and personal responses.

I?d have to point out that you?re missing the point of my piece, and the significance of ?Millennial-scalestorminess variability in the northeastern United States during the Holoceneepoch,? the 2002 paper, coauthored by Realclimate?s Eric Steig, that I focus on.

The paper created a Holocene-length record of extreme precipitation, as derived from lakebed sediments across the Northeast. So it captured extreme inland rainfall from tropical systems (as in this system, Irene, Floyd, and Vermont?s epic 1927 gullywasher) as well as nor-easters and any other rare events. Second, the authors predict we?re in an era of rising storminess of that kind in the Northeast, via ocean cycles. There?s more in the paper conclusion below.

So it?s fine to talk about sea level and surge risk from hurricanes, but not fine to describe the weirdness factor in this hybrid system as somehow significantly shaped (emphasis on ?significantly?) by greenhouse forcing. And that?s what some are doing.

Here?s the conclusion:

Climate models suggest that human activities, specifically the emission of atmospheric greenhouse gases, may lead to increases in the frequency of severe storms in certain regions of the Northern Hemisphere. However, the existence of natural variability in storminess confounds reliable detection of anthropogenic effects.
During the past ~600 years, New England storminess appears to have been increasing naturally. This rhythm in storm frequency may explain some of the recently observed increases in extreme precipitation events. If the pattern of millennial-scale variability that we documented through the Holocene persists into the future, New England storminess would continue to increase for the next ~900 years. Because climate synopses compiled from instrumental records cannot distinguish underlying natural increases in storminess from anthropogenic effects, detected increases in contemporary storminess may not be a reliable indicator of human-induced climate change.

Miller:

Your response?follows the same line of thinking that I was addressing in my email to you. ?Yes, there has been more and less ?storminess? in the past. ?Yes, we may even be in for a ?natural? increase in storminess over the next several hundred years. ?But mentioning that in the context of Hurricane Sandy is an attempt (or at least has the effect) to minimize the concern about the documented changes to the climate we have already made and the predicted catastrophic consequences of staying on the fossil emissions path we are on. ?It is seeding doubt at a time when action is needed.

We have increased CO2 levels in the atmosphere by about 40% in the last 100 years (mostly the last 50 years) on the way to doubling later this century. ?The Earth has warmed up about 0.8?C (1.4?F) already due to the extra greenhouse gases we put in the atmosphere and it would have warmed even more if we weren?t also putting up smoke that reflects sunlight. ?This warming has increased Earth?s energy radiation to space, but the excess greenhouse gases are still trapping more heat than the Earth is radiating to space. ?This ?energy imbalance? is about 0.6 watts/square meter. ?This doesn?t sound like much but it is equivalent to 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs going off every day (see my briefing for the math).

Extremely Hot Summers (?3-sigma? events) have increased 50X (5000%) in the past 50 years. ?There is 4% more water vapor in the atmosphere than 50 years ago. ?Average ocean temperatures have increased (90% of global warming energy goes into the ocean). ?The Arctic sea ice just reached its lowest level in thousands of years and in a few years you will be able to sail a boat to the North Pole for the first time in human history.

These documented impacts all effect the strength, scale, and direction of Hurricane Sandy. ?No one is saying that a Hurricane Sandy would not have happened if not for climate change. ?But I believe there is little doubt that the record-breaking scale and potential destructiveness of Sandy is due in large part to the amplifying effects of warmer ocean temperatures, higher atmospheric moisture content, and unusual Arctic weather patterns.

Like the Space Shuttle Challenger?s NASA managers, waiting for scientific ?proof? of disaster, rather than taking prudent (and economical beneficial) steps to avert disaster, only guarantees that our children will face catastrophic consequences.

Some of the points Miller makes about Arctic influences on Hurricane Sandy and the resulting nor?easter are explored by Kevin Trenberth and other scientists in my post on the storm and climate science. Have a look.?Also check yesterday?s post on late-season hurricanes and global warming by Eric Berger of the Houston Chronicle for more on the science.

And of course I?ve never bought into the ?wait until there?s proof? approach to human-driven climate change, which ? as I?ve stressed since 2007 ? is more a challenge of risk management amid substantial and persistent uncertainty than a problem resolved by amassing scientific proof.

I still like how Carl Wunsch of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology summarized things in my 2007 article, ?A New Middle Stance Emerges in Debate over Climate? (of course that article prompted lots of slings and arrows, too):

?Climate change presents a very real risk,? said Carl Wunsch, a climate and oceans expert at the?Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ?It seems worth a very large premium to insure ourselves against the most catastrophic scenarios. Denying the risk seems utterly stupid. Claiming we can calculate the probabilities with any degree of skill seems equally stupid.?

If you could enter this discussion, what would you ask either of us? I?ll alert Miller as questions come in (and I?ll answer those directed at me).

4:38 p.m. | Updated | I read Mark Fischetti?s piece on global warming and hurricanes in Scientific American just now, which points to a recent PNAS study finding ?a statistically significant trend in the frequency of large surge events? from tropical cyclones in the Atlantic.

The same paper was discussed in my Sunday post, and when I reached out to other scientists, it didn?t get a very promising reception. Both Tom Knutson and Gabriel Vecchi, veteran hurricane-climate researchers for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, offered detailed critiques that I added as comments on Sunday. Comments are easy to miss, so here are excerpts and links:

Knutson:

On inspection, I am cautious about making too much of this result, as it appears to be a case of marginal significance for several reasons:

1) The start date in 1923 is a relatively low period in landfalling and basin-wide hurricane/or tropical storm time series with relatively higher activity in the late 1800s. This can be seen for example in Fig. 3 of this web page that Gabe Vecchi and I have.

Our experience is that starting a trend in a relatively low point of a slowly fluctuating time series can sometimes lead to findings of statistical significance which don?t hold up as the record is further extended (e.g. extended further back in time or new years added on the end). [Read the rest.]

Vecchi:

This is an interesting paper, but I share the concerns that Tom has raised. In addition, although they have shown a correlation between their surge index and measures of hurricane activity, it is far from a 1:1 relationship (correlations of 0.5-0.6 indicate that this index shares about 25-36% of its variance with direct hurricane measures, leaving over 60% to be explained). As can be seen in the plot if the two indices in 2005, the biggest storm surge indices do not match the biggest ACE events (and vice-versa). That makes sense, since there are many factors that impact storm surge, of which intensity is only one. For example, the trajectory, speed and size of the storm all influence storm surge. Therefore, one needs to be wary about over-interpreting these results. Peak surge has shown a trend, but what does that tell us about storms themselves? What is behind this trend?

I find the correlation to SST a bit of a non-sequitur given that the factors responsible for the surge trend are not clear. Is this sea level rise? Stronger storms? Storms with different tracks? Starting in 1923 adds to the problems in interpreting the trends. [Read the rest.]

Source: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/30/two-views-of-a-superstorm-in-climate-context/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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