Tuesday, October 29, 2002

Survey: Sex often part of casual teen relationships 5:36:58 PM       ACR: Lower-Back and Fibromyalgia Pain Linked, Possible Source Identified NEW ORLEANS, LA -- October 28, 2002 -- Lower back pain appears to be caused by a malfunctioning pain pathways in the brain, in a manner similar to fibromyalgia pain, University of Michigan researchers report. "These patients get bad reputation for claiming to feel pain in places where no physiological cause can be identified. It looks like the pain has a physiological source indeed, but in problems in the brain," said investigator Richard Gracely, Ph.D, professor of rheumatology at the University of Michigan School of Medicine in Ann Arbor told United Press International. [more] 5:33:32 PM       Bifocals may up risk of falling in older adults 5:24:46 PM       FDA approves new type of cholesterol-lowering drug 5:24:27 PM       Virtual hands reach across the ocean. Scientists on opposite sides of the Atlantic are shaking hands over the internet in the first public trial of the latest in touch technology. [BBC News | TECHNOLOGY] 12:07:36 PM       Science offers parents clues on how to help their children build a good life Key points: But his core message is that happy people tend to have five attributes that operate in a feedback loop. Here, he says, is where parents and schools should put their focus. The system looks like this: Connectedness Hallowell calls this quality the Miracle-Gro of happiness. Connectedness leads to confidence, optimism, reaching out to people and a can-do attitude. Optimism in turn helps people overcome adversity and, in the words of researcher Martin Seligman, acts as a vaccine against depression. And optimism can be taught. Most people know a lot about school shootings, Hallowell said, but they may not know that a feeling of connectedness at home and school could have prevented them -- and a lot of other problems. Research on the benefits of connectedness is so strong, Hallowell wants to see schools give it the same weight as test scores. His own research suggests that academic achievement would increase. In the mid-1990s he and a colleague did a two-year study of about 1,000 students at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, the "Harvard" of prep schools. They found that the most-driven students got poorer grades than the most connected students. "Drivenness" was measured by questions like, "Do you think that getting into your first-choice college will make a crucial difference in your life?" and "Do you think that your self-esteem depends upon your grades more than anything else?" Play Hallowell defines play as any activity that allows for spontaneity, creativity and invention. The opposite of play isn't work, he says, it's rote, or doing exactly what you're told to do. Play is basic to a joyful life. It builds imagination and creates a state that one researcher calls "flow," in which a person loses all sense of self and time and becomes one with the activity. Hallowell thinks too many kids aren't learning to play because organized activities (which he enthusiastically supports in moderation) and electronic games are gobbling too much time and creating "high-stimulation junkies." Play continues into adulthood when people find occupations that allow them to be creative and achieve flow. Practice "As you play," said Hallowell, "you find something you love and you do it over and over again." With practice, kids build skills and discipline and create a sense of control over their lives. Practice is one of those "ugh" words but it's more palatable when the activity is something they value, and it tends to generalize to other areas. Mastery "Mastery is the key to confidence and a can-do attitude," Hallowell said. But you can't mandate mastery, you have to lead a child to it. Hallowell said he knows too many high-achieving adults who are unable to feel mastery, or pride in their accomplishments, because when they were younger a parent, coach or teacher held them to impossible standards. Recognition With mastery comes recognition. When secure, connected kids see their efforts acknowledged by the larger group, the connection deepens and the circle is completed. This is the root of morality, Hallowell said, because most people are loathe to harm or shame a group to which they feel connected. Helping children build this sense of connection is far more effective than trying to "teach" morality or tack it on artificially. These five steps work together to create the outcome called happiness, Hallowell said. To get back on track as a society, we need to start with step one -- connection -- instead of skipping straight to practice and mastery. A lot of parents know this on some level, but -- feeling pressured -- they don't always act on it. And that's a shame, Hallowell said, because happiness is too important to leave to chance. 10:58:53 AM       Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. "If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment." 10:42:16 AM       "My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it." --Mark Twain 10:22:43 AM       WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD? GEORGE W. BUSH We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want toknow if the chicken is on our side of the road or not.  The chicken iseither with us or it is against us.  There is no middle ground here. AL GORE I invented the chicken. I invented the road. Therefore, the chicken crossing the road represented the application of these two different functions of government in a new, reinvented way designed to bring greater services to the American people. RALPH NADER The chicken's habitat on the original side of the road had been polluted by unchecked industrialist greed. The chicken did not reach the unspoiled habitat on the other side of the road because it was crushed by the wheels of a gas-guzzling SUV. PAT BUCHANAN To steal a job from a decent, hard-working American. RUSH LIMBAUGH I don't know why the chicken crossed the road, but I'll bet it was getting a government grant to cross the road, and I'll bet someone outthere is already forming a support group to help chickens with crossing-the-road syndrome. Can you believe this? How much more of this can real Americans take? Chickens crossing the road paid for by their tax dollars, and when I say tax dollars, I'm talking about your money, money the government took from you to build roads for chickens to cross. MARTHA STEWART No one called to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had astanding order at the farmer's market to sell my eggs when the pricedropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insiderinformation. JERRY FALWELL Because the chicken was gay! Isn't it obvious? Can't you people see theplain truth in front of your face? The chicken was going to the "other side." That's what they call it -- the other side. Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And, if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media whitewashes with seemingly harmless phrases like "the other side." DR. SEUSS Did the chicken cross the road?Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, The chicken crossed the road, But why it crossed, I've not been told! ERNEST HEMINGWAY To die. In the rain. Alone. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question. GRANDPA In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough for us. BARBARA WALTERS Isn't that interesting? In a few moments we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart-warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting and went on to accomplish its life-long dream of crossing the road. JOHN LENNON Imagine all the chickens crossing roads in peace. ARISTOTLE It is the nature of chickens to cross the road. KARL MARX  It was a historical inevitability ..SADDAM HUSSEIN  This was an unprovoked act of rebellion and we were quite justified in dropping 50 tons of nerve gas on it. VOLTAIRE I may not agree with what the chicken did, but I will defend to the death its right to do it. RONALD REAGAN What chicken? CAPTAIN KIRK To boldly go where no chicken has gone before. FOX MULDER You saw it cross the road with your own eyes! How many more chickens have to cross before you believe it? SIGMUND FREUD The fact that you are at all concerned that the chicken crossed the road reveals your underlying sexual insecurity. BILL GATES I have just released eChicken 2003, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook- and Internet Explorer is an inextricable part of eChicken. ALBERT EINSTEIN  Did the chicken really cross the road or did the road move beneath the chicken? BILL CLINTON I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What do you mean by chicken? Could you define chicken, please? THE BIBLE And God came down from the heavens, and He said unto the chicken, "Thou shalt cross the road." And the chicken crossed the road, and there was much rejoicing. COLONEL SANDERS I missed one? 10:16:23 AM

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