Daily Archives: 12 Feb 07

Afternoon nap may lower heart disease risk

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“Taking midday naps often may significantly reduce the risk of death from coronary heart disease, according to a new study by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the University of Athens Medical School (UAMS) in Greece.

Subjects who took a nap regardless of the frequency and duration were one third less likely to die from heart attack or stroke than those who did not, the researchers reported in the February 12, 2007 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine.

But some experts quickly warned that people should not rely on taking a nap to reduce their risk of heart disease…” (foodconsumer.org)

I am not sure if the napping is the independent variable here. It may be that people who take naps take better care of themselves in general, are less driven and more relaxed, etc. Correlation is not causation.

Pace says he hasn’t seen evidence of Iranian meddling

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“A day after the U.S. military charged Iran’s government with shipping powerful explosive devices to Shiite Muslim fighters in Iraq to use against American troops, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday that he hasn’t seen any intelligence to support the claim.” (San Jose Mercury News)

It is incredible that the dysadministration be allowed to get away with this yet again. First of all, the proportion of the IED-related casualties arising from the supposedly-Iranian devices is miniscule. Secondly, even if the devices in question originate in Iran, there is no evidence that Iranians have brought them into Iraq or that their use is state-sponsored. They may just as well have been bought on the black market. And wouldn’t it be in the interests of at least some of the Iraqi insurgents to turn the US’ attention in the direction of Iranian meddling? Encouraging the extension of armed conflict to Iran would further diffuse American power, bog us down even more severely and create the opportunity for a humiliating American defeat an even more humiliating American defeat than we are undergoing now.

March 3, 2007, Lunar Eclipse

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“The next eclipse is right around the corner: Saturday, March 3, 2007… The phenomenon will be visible from parts of all seven continents including the eastern half of North America. In the USA, the eclipse will already be underway when the moon rises on Saturday evening. Observing tip: Find a place with a clear view of the eastern horizon and station yourself there at sunset. As the sun goes down behind you, a red moon will rise before your eyes. Rising moons are often reddened by clouds or pollution, but this moon will be the deep, extraordinary red only seen during a lunar eclipse.” (NASA )

Here, There and Everywhere

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“I am an American consumer, and the battle to catch the corner of my eye is growing more desperate by the hour. Desperate and counterproductive, it now seems clear. We all know what happened in Boston the other week, when the guerrilla marketing of a cartoon series triggered a grand mal metro seizure, but only I know what happened in Los Angeles several days earlier. I was standing in an airport security line when I spotted an advertisement for Rolodexes printed across the bottom of the tub into which I was about to set my shoes. The ad bewildered me for a couple of reasons. First, I didn’t expect to see it there (even though, by now, I should have, since researchers estimate that the average city dweller is exposed to 5,000 ads per day, up from 2,000 per day three decades ago). The second and greater mystery, however, was why a major company would want me to associate its product with the experience of being searched. Rolodex — the official corporate sponsor of airport paranoia. It didn’t make sense.” — Walter Kirn (New York Times)