This video convinced me that it’s time to try to kick the sugar habit again.  In the past three days, I’ve had more energy after cutting back on processed sugar.  And my next step will be to try to add more veggies into my diet.

More than 1.1 million people have viewed the 90 minute lecture, which is shocking giving the short 90-second attention span of today’s internet surfer.

photo © 2008 Micah Baldwin | more info (via: Wylio)

Random find of the day:

Preliminary research suggests that class status may contribute to denying people their genetic destiny.

In a study of cognitive ability in 750 sets of twins, researchers found that

At 10 months, there was no difference in how the children from different socioeconomic backgrounds performed. By 2 years, children from high socioeconomic background scored significantly higher than those from low socioeconomic backgrounds. . .

“Our findings suggest that socioeconomic disparities in cognitive development start early,” says Tucker-Drob. “For children from poorer homes, genetic influences on changes in cognitive ability were close to zero. For children from wealthier homes, genes accounted for about half of the variation in cognitive changes.”

Follow up research is planned to investigate which environmental and familial behavior factors are causing that shift in performance.

If early childhood cognitive development is dependent on access to resources – educational, nutritional, and emotional — we may be shortchanging children to the detriment of the next generation.  Prospects for upward social mobility become much more difficult when your game is handicapped before play begins.  And what of budding Einsteins that don’t have the opportunity to become brilliant contributors to their nation and industry?

What responsibility would we have as a nation if this research bears out?  Should policy try to compensate for the possibility that the economic class impacts genetic potential?

pic by sunfrog1

As someone who exercises daily, I explored the use of heart rate monitors to get a better workout.  I always struggled to get my rate into the max range in interval training.

The standard formula was “220 – the person’s age.” I started playing with heart rate monitors right out of college. Though I did my damnedest to get my heart rate into the 190s, it was near impossible.  At 183 beats per minute, I couldn’t talk any more and I could barely breath; it felt like having asthma attack…on purpose.   So I gave up on heart rate monitors because the defeated me in every spinning class.

The American Heart Association journal Circulation recently published the findings of a heart rate study, using about 5500 women.  Surprise, surprise!  Women’s hearts beat to their own drummer, and our maximum heart rate is considerably lower than that of men.

That  new formula “206 – (.88*age) is spot on.   At 21, my maximum heart rate was 187.5, so it’s no wonder I was struggling so much.  I had moved into my real heart rate peak range, though science hadn’t yet acknowledged it.

Me thinks it is time to buy some new batteries for my heart rate monitor.

Spread the word.

Though I think I’m a few years off from having the confidence to have pundit ‘tude, I did enter.  With a 400-word limit, I had to decide between setting up a longer piece that would cut off at the 400-word mark, or just try to make a coherent argument complete within the word limit. I went with the latter.

With a national unemployment rate hovering near 10 percent, we’re moving beyond job hunt desperation to a general workplace malaise that is also a threat to American morale.  A recent DDI poll found that more than half of worker bees feel disconnected from their workplace responsibilities. Despite reporting significantly heavier workloads as their companies streamline staff, employees perform by rote, rather than because of an ambition to reach the next rung or the determination to stay employed.

At first glimpse it seems crazy to be almost lackadaisical in one’s professional efforts given the economy.  Corporations are downsizing, eliminating job security. Bonuses are a non-starter, since belt-tightening is a matter of course.   And if not experiencing forced furloughs or pay cuts, receiving a raise tied to the bump in the cost of living is considered generous.

The growing ranks of the unemployed don’t just raise concerns about whether one will be able to make that next mortgage payment, it threatens the daydreams that inspire people to work the extra hours, to take on side projects and to survive less than optimal work environs.   Whether focused on the next promotion or company leapfrog, ambitions are born of what one imagines could follow a vertical or lateral transition.

Given that inadequate compensation and a hunger for career advancement spur new employment searches, 60 percent of workers are actively looking for a new office environment, competing with millions of equally hungry, unemployed job seekers.   Competition is fierce and the odds of making a move to a more favorable position seem slim.  Even if a new opportunity avails itself, there’s no guarantee it’s anything but the flip side of the same coin.

At the same time, having 1 year of experience, or 20, at a company means little when that job is deemed expendable or redundant.  A position can be here today, gone tomorrow.  When the opportunities are limited outside one’s current employ, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep that hope alive. With the ability to imagine the possibilities faltering, ambivalence is infectious.

Such insouciance is toxic at a time when innovation and fresh thinking are demanded to make the American labor market competitive again.  The psychological hurdle to overcome is as palpable as the economic one:  the power of possibility needs to be rekindled.

If anything, it was great to be writing again, so I need to get this blog back up and running.

photo by araswami

I am a notoriously bad pancake maker and have long resigned myself to restaurant pancakes.  Not any more.

These are the best pancakes ever, and I wanted to share the recipe (from Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2007).  I used unsweetened coconut flakes in mine.

Overall, Cooking Light puts together an amazing cookbook of their previous year’s magazine recipes.  Some of my favorite recipes hail from their publications.

1 1/2 c all purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp flaked sweetened coconut
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 (13.5 oz can) light coconut milk
1 tbsp butter
1 large egg, lightly beaten

1. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, level with  a  knife.  Combine flour, sugar, and next 3 ingredients in a large bowl.  Combine coconut milk, butter, and egg, stir well.  Add coconut milk mix to flour mix, stirring until smooth.

2. Pour about 1/4 c batter per pancake onto a hot nonstick griddle or nonstick skillet.  Cook 3 minutes or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked.  Carefully turn pancakes over, cook 2 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned.

Yield 4 svgs, 3 pancakes each

300 calories/29% from fat; 9.7g fat, 7.6g protein, 46.6 g carb, 1.4g fiber, 60mg chol, 521 mg sodium, 14mg calcium

Next year, making basic cupcakes, but wow with the presentation.

Bakerella provides detailed instructions on how to create a snowglobe cupcake scene featuring the ever popular seasonal polar bear and coke bottle combo.

It’s absolutely ingenious, creative, and festive!

Throughout the United States “Good Samaritan” laws are in place to provide legal protection for everyday citizens that choose to help someone that has fallen ill or is injured in an accident, whether roadside or at the office or any other place you could imagine someone needing immediate care.  Under these laws you can’t be sued or arrested for “assisting,” as long as you’re acting within reason.

For almost a decade now, I’ve been CPR certified.   During my last CPR certification renewal, I also completed a First Aid course that is good for 3 years.   As someone who teaches in a gym, I’d like to be ready, just in case.  I’m happy to report that it’s training I’ve never had to use.

But a California Supreme Court decision makes me reconsider my Girl Scout-esque preparedness.

A woman pulled her co-worker from a vehicle after a car accident on Halloween 2004.  As a result of her injuries, the co-worker was left paraplegic.   The woman is being sued for damages for her contribution to the injuries inflicted.

The woman and her lawyer fought the lawsuit arguing her Good Samaritan status.

The Supreme Court has sided for the injured party in a decision that could discourage people from helping those in crisis situations.  Essentially, only the medical actions taken are protected under California law. So while you’re OK if you perform CPR or the Heimlich maneuver* or apply a tourniquet to  gushing wound (knowing help is hours away), if you pull a person  out of the middle of the road to administer that care, you can get sued for any damages caused by that act.

From a dissenting judge:

“One who dives into swirling waters to retrieve a drowning swimmer can be sued for incidental injury he or she causes while bringing the victim to shore, but is immune for harm he or she produces while thereafter trying to revive the victim,” [Judge Marvin R.] Baxter wrote. “Here, the result is that defendant Torti has no immunity for her bravery in pulling her injured friend from a crashed vehicle, even if she reasonably believed it might be about to explode.”

Instructors in the courses I’ve taken  have always reminded students to follow several rules

• You never move the body when a neck injury is suspected; always suspect a neck injury.
• If the options are a) possibility of a dead body or b) move the injured body to prevent it from being a dead body, you’re better off alive than dead

Because of this legal finding, it appears I’m actually unable to help anyone unless they’ve fallen or landed out of danger and in a bodily position that doesn’t require much shifting before applying my first aid training.  Moving a body won’t necessarily be protected as medical care, so I’d be risking civil liability.

Hopefully, the California State Legislature will redefine Good Samaritanism to include all non-medical action required to save a life.  Otherwise, it seems that the only crisis safe to handle is applying adhesive bandages to paper cuts.

* The American Red Cross no longer refers to choking victim rescue as the Heimlich maneuver, but as “abdominal thrusts.” I’m told the Heimlich family wanted royalties for use of the name.  Seriously.

photo by akeg

The average professional work day runs 8am-5pm or 9am-6pm + any overtime.  But given our global economy, which allows people in multiple time zones to contribute to the same project, are those arbitrarily selected work hours really necessary anymore?

I know plenty of people who can be at work wide awake pre-8am.   I am not one of them.  While I can easily work til 2am when need be, my body rebels against early mornings even when I get a full night of sleep.  And for my early AM peeps, they struggle with late nights and would much rather get up even earlier when needed.

So it comes as a bit of a relief to see my high school struggle to focus in an 8am French class explained by new research.   Researchers are encouraging high schools to start an hour later, allowing night owl teens to get the extra hour of sleep they need to function and focus at school the following day.  In trials of a later school start, students not only got more sleep, but number of car incidents caused by teens dropped, as the rate rose in surrounding districts not participating in the trials.

But what of adults who are naturally inclined to wake up a bit later and to do their best work later in the day?  Projects are due when projects are due, regardless of when you’re working on them.  Isn’t there some wiggle room for the work days of individuals who aren’t high functioners at 8am?

Given the obsessive use of email communication and taking advantage of Indian outsourcing to see project work continue after Western hemisphere businesses shut down for the night, if a manager trusts you enough to hire you, shouldn’t he trust you to get the job done regardless of your work hours?  Wouldn’t that flexibility improve job satisfaction and potentially productivity?

I hope I get to answer those questions some day.  Until then, it’s dual alarm clocks for me.