Shuroki Online

C.A. Sizemore lost his beloved wife Kelly today. I sent this as a bulletin in myspace earlier today to my friends and family, then decided to post it here as well. I think it is something that most people need reminding of, as we pass through the chaos of day-to-day life.

There is a collection being taken for him, both to help with his expenses and to also show our love and condolences. Here is the link if you’d like to contribute. Donations for C.A. Sizemore.

An acquaintance came home this morning to find his wife had passed away. It’s not anyone you would know, so no need for you to worry about who it is.

I’m passing on this news about an anonymous couple to you, in the hopes that you will take a moment to share your feelings with your loved ones and friends.

Whether family, long-time friends, or new friends you all hold a special place in my heart and I’m grateful to have you in my life.

Feel free to share this with your friends, I can think of nothing better to honor Kelly than for love being shared today.

Love today.

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Viv and I have been discussing off and on about running the “Race for the Cure” in DC. She has actually run it previously after her mother beat her first round of breast cancer. Due to a number of reasons we are not going to be able to do the DC race this year, however we decided to run in Richmond on May 10th.

I’ve never done any kind of marathon, or much running of any kind past PE class in Junior High and High School. I’ve done bouts of jogging as a form of exercise throughout my life but its always been short lived.

With our renewed emphasis in our health that started this year, I think that a goal, such as the RFTC is a great motivator to stay on top of our diet and exercise routines. Viv tweeted about our participation this morning and was given a link to a workout plan to prep for a marathon in two months. There’s even a companion podcast to walk you through each run.

It looks pretty aggressive, but with such a short period of time it seems it needs to be. She actually started on it today. I will likely start tomorrow. Of course, I’ll post the progress here!

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is

…a heap of debris floating in the Pacific that’s twice the size of Texas, according to marine biologists.

The enormous stew of trash – which consists of 80 percent plastics and weighs some 3.5 million tons, say oceanographers – floats where few people ever travel, in a no-man’s land between San Francisco and Hawaii.

After reading that description, I thought perhaps it was some corporate conspiracy of ocean dumping, but its not. Its just a matter of the wind patterns and circular water currents creating the “perfect environment for trapping” all of the plastic junk in the pacific.

Most of the stuff comes from land, getting sent down storm drains, or trash being left on beaches.

This is just mind boggling.. twice the size of Texas!! Wowza.

Link to San Francisco Chronic article.

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I saw this on Neil Gaiman’s blog. Wouldn’t it be awesome if they did this in the US? Do they do this in the US and I just don’t know about it? If they did, I think Neil would have placed a link to it.

 

Where will I buy Odd and The Frost Giants since I live in the US? Will there be a distributor here? How long do I have to wait? Also, how long do I have to wait for The Graveyard Book? I’m aching to read new Gaiman.

Thank you, Mr. Neil.

Siri

You’re welcome. Let’s see… I don’t know if Odd and the Frost Giants will be published in the US. No plans for it at present, anyway.

It was written for something called World Book Day in the UK, where a bunch of authors write books for nothing, and publishers publish them for nothing, and they get sold for £1 each to kids who have been given £1 Book Tokens, and the whole thing exists purely in order to get kids reading. They describe it on their website as the biggest annual event promoting the enjoyment of books and reading.

It was started by UNESCO, borrowing a custom from Catalonia, where roses and books were given as gifts on April 23rd (St George’s Day, Shakespeare’s birth and death day, not to mention Nobokov’s birthday and Cervantes deathday).

It’s a registered charity. (Here’s the FAQs on the website.)

In the UK and Ireland it’ll be Thursday the 6th of March 2008.

Here are this year’s books: http://www.worldbookday.com/1-pound-book-details.asp

As to how you’d get a copy if you aren’t in the UK, I’d suggest either get someone in the UK to buy one for you, or simply order one from an online retailer. You’ll be paying postage but it’s still a 14,500 word book for $2 (that’s about half the length of CORALINE) so it’s not going to set you back much.

If you decide to use Amazon.co.uk — which anyone with an Amazon account in any other country can use — you want to use this link to the one pound copy of the book. They have another link up to a discounted twenty-five pound version of the book — which is, I assume, and unless I hear otherwise, some kind of Amazon screw-up, although possibly they’re discounting packs of 25 copies.

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This flash animation is fascinating. It shows the founding and expansion of the worlds five major religions and the wars they inspired- all in 90 seconds.

The site is called Maps of War and contains several similar videos depicting the expansion and contraction of empires and nations in 90 minute snippets.

From BoingBoing

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PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. In fact, they just released a new book filled with never before seen secrets, bringing them up to four published books.

I thought this was an interesting secret:

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I’ve recently learned about the cancer protection offered by selenium. Here is an interesting article linking selenium and depression.

Selenium – bad mood food

by Dr Wynnie Chan

Food affects mood more than most of us realise, and low selenium levels in the diet can lead to irritability and depression, cautions Dr Wynnie Chan

Food has always played a role in influencing our mood, whether it’s feeling romantic after slurping down oysters, or blissful after munching on chocolate. And as scientists discussed at the recent London Mood and Food conference – organized by the British Nutrition Foundation – the relationship between the two has been further underlined since the discovery of a link between selenium deficiency and depression.

According to scientists from the Department of Psychology at the University of Wales in Swansea, a deficiency in selenium – an essential trace element found in cereal grains, meat and fish – may be associated with increased anxiety, depression and fatigue. It also acts as an antioxidant and can help the body to fight cancer and heart disease. The current average adult intake of selenium for women and men is thought to be around 43 micrograms (mcg) per day. This compares unfavourably with the government’s recommended daily intake of 75mcg for men and 60mcg per day for women. Selenium is found in varying concentrations in soils throughout the world. While levels are high in North American soil, they are comparatively low in Britain and Europe. Due to a decrease in imports of selenium-rich, high-protein wheat flour from North America and Canada, and an increase in the acquisition of locally produced wheat, daily selenium intake among the British population fell dramatically from 60mcg in 1978 to around 43mcg by the 1990s. The Food Standards Agency, which looks at trends in food consumption, noted in its annual National Food Survey that there has been a decrease in bread consumption over the past 10 years. This is also believed to be a cause in the reduced intake of selenium. Finally, the low bio-availability (i.e. the amount that the body is able to use) of this mineral in soils due to acid rain and excessive use of artificial fertilizers, has also affected selenium intake.

The study published in Biological Psychiatry in 1991 by doctors David Benton and Richard Cook at the University of Wales, was designed with the aim of examining the impact of selenium on moods. While previous studies have looked at selenium deficiency in relation to the concentration of the mineral in red blood cells, kidney, liver and testes, its presence in the brain has always been ignored. The Benton and Cook study was ground-breaking because it was the first time researchers considered the possibility that low selenium levels may have psychological consequences.

The 50 subjects who took part were either given a daily placebo or a 100mcg selenium supplement over a five-week period. They were then asked to monitor their feelings and moods, and which foods they had eaten – in order for the researchers to estimate their overall daily intake of selenium. The results showed that the lower the level of selenium in the diet, the more the subjects reported feelings of anxiety, depression and fatigue. The results also showed that these feelings subsided following the addition of selenium supplements to the diet. However, before you rush off to the nearest chemist to buy selenium supplements, be aware that overdoing it can be bad for your health. In 1991, the Department of Health reviewed the daily amounts of minerals necessary for an average person. It found that excessive doses of selenium – over 3.2 milligrams (3200 mcg) per day – were toxic and could lead to neurological abnormalities, dry, brittle hair or hair loss, and, in severe cases, paralysis. So, in fact, supplementing a diet that already provides adequate amounts of selenium may not be beneficial.

However, if you aim to eat a balanced diet of carbohydrates, a couple of portions of protein from meat or fish, the usual 5 portions of fruit and veg and a couple of portions of milk and dairy products every day, you should be getting sufficient amounts of selenium to put you in a positive frame of mind.

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I think its pretty cool that Nike has gone to the expense in research and production for this program – and then making it a charitable endeavor making them available at low to no cost is amazing. Obesity and its related problems (heart disease and diabetes) have reached epidemic proportions in Indian Country and it didn’t seem like anybody would notice.

I think I could do without the “culturally specific look”; though reserve judgment until actually seeing them. -{c}

Thanks to Dr. Cmar on Twitter for the heads up!

From the New York Times:

Nike Designs Shoe for American Indians

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 26, 2007

BEAVERTON, Ore. (AP) — Nike on Tuesday unveiled what it said is the first shoe designed specifically for American Indians, an effort aiming at promoting physical fitness in a population with high obesity rates.

The Beaverton-based company says the Air Native N7 is designed with a larger fit for the distinct foot shape of American Indians, and has a culturally specific look. It will be distributed solely to American Indians; tribal wellness programs and tribal schools nationwide will be able to purchase the shoe at wholesale price and then pass it along to individuals, often at no cost.

”Nike is aware of the growing health issues facing Native Americans,” said Sam McCracken, manager of Nike’s Native American Business program. ”We are stepping up our commitment … to elevate the issue of Native American health and wellness.”

Nike said it is the first time it has designed a shoe for a specific race or ethnicity. It said all profits from the sale of the shoe will be reinvested in health programs for tribal lands, where problems with obesity, diabetes and related conditions are near epidemic levels in some tribes.

Nike designers and researchers looked at the feet of more than 200 people from more than 70 tribes nationwide and found that in general, American Indians have a much wider and taller foot than the average shoe accommodates. The average shoe width of men and women measured was three width sizes larger than the standard Nike shoe.

As a result, the Air Native is wider with a larger toe box. The shoe has fewer seams for irritation and a thicker sock liner for comfort.

Jerry Bread, outreach coordinator for the Native American Studies program at University of Oklahoma, said the idea was ”fantastic” and addressed a core issue for tribes, though he was skeptical that the feet of people from so many tribes could be so similar.

”It’s an excellent gesture and I know it will get a lot of support from tribal people,” Bread said. ”We stand to profit from it in our physical health and well being.”

Dr. Kelly Acton, director of the national diabetes program for Indian Health Services, said she was dubious of working with a corporation at first but said she was delighted with the result, saying Nike ”bent over backwards” to design a shoe and respect public health needs.

The N7 name is a reference to the seventh generation theory, used by some tribes to look to the three generations preceding them for wisdom and the three generations ahead for their legacy.

The design features several ”heritage callouts” as one product manager described it, including sunrise to sunset to sunrise patterns on the tongue and heel of the shoe. Feather designs adorn the inside and stars are on the sole to represent the night sky.

The company anticipates selling at least 10,000 pairs and raising $200,000 for tribal programs. At $42.80 wholesale, it represents less of a financial opportunity than a goodwill and branding effort.

”The reason I like it is that, even if there’s not a big Native American market, it gives people the impression there is a constituency that deserves attention,” said John Dickson, a member of the executive council of the Native American Leadership Alliance in Washington, D.C.

Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon, said the product reflects how Nike does business.

The company prides itself on designing specifically for certain athletes and having close ties to its customers. Nike has been involved with the tribal community for years, supporting tribal athletic teams, events and other social initiatives.

”It reinforces the core of the Nike brand, which is: If you have a body you are an athlete,” Swangard said.

——

Associated Press writer William McCall contributed to this report from Portland, Ore.

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You might not have heard of the site GamerDad. We use it quite frequently, being avid gamers, and playing many video games with our kids. Its so difficult to tell exactly what the ratings on games mean in terms of your child, and GamerDad goes a long way to helping you figure it out.

Anyhoo- the site is in dire need of donations. He recently had a heart attack and major surgery

Incidentally, a similar site for movies to check out is Kids in Mind.

From Penny Arcade:

Fri, September 14 2007 – 01:08 PM

by: Gabe

Many of you are probably already familiar with Gamer Dad. He’s become
a fixture at PAX and we’ve linked to him on a number of occasions. If
you don’t know about him you should check out his blog. He’s out there
fighting the jack Thompsons of the world and trying to prove that
being a gamer doesn’t mean you’re a psychopath. He has also been
tirelessly preaching the importance of gaming with your children.
basically he’s one of the good guys and right now he needs some help.

Andrew suffered a heart attack recently and has since undergone
quadruple bypass surgery. He’s not done yet either. Andrew is
scheduled for even more surgeries and his wife is asking for help. As
you can imagine they are racking up quite a bill and being a
professional advocate for our hobby just doesn’t pay what it used to.

So I’d like to focus the power of the PA community on Andrew and his
family right now. If you’re in a position to help them out I’m asking
that you please follow this link and do whatever you can.

-Gabe out

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