November 02, 2007

Really, Really, Random Friday

natalie dee
nataliedee.com

What's that thing flying around up there? No idea! Crabby just liked it, so what the hell.

And in that "what the hell" spirit, lets get going with another Random Friday!

Pain Relief--But Hide The Ben & Jerry's
So marijuana is apparently an effective pain reliever, but dosage is important. A little doesn't do much, but a moderate amount worked to ease pain after about 45 minutes. But whoa, dude, not too much! 'High' dosages of the drug actually increased the amount of pain felt by stoned volunteers. (And Crabby was pleased to discover that the pot/pain study took place at the Center for Medical Cannabis Research at her very own Alma Mater, UCSD).

Stop Messing With Us: To D or Not to D?
There have been several recent studies suggesting that vitamin D levels can influence one's risk of getting cancer. As a result, experts have been suggesting we get more of the vitamin whether from a little bit of sunshine, eating the right foods, or taking a supplement. So it's something of a disappointment to read that in a large cancer study (following 17,000 volunteers for a decade) there didn't seem to be any relationship between vitamin D blood levels and cancer occurrence at all--except for colon cancer. Is this the last word? Well, perhaps not, as Vitamin D levels were only taken once for each person, and are known to fluctuate a great deal.

Phytochemical Supplements: What's the Deal?
And file this next pair of studies, too, in the "C'mon Scientists, Make Up Your Freakin' Minds Already" folder: the two following articles were sitting right next to each other over at Science Daily. The first one, entitled "High Doses Of Phytochemicals, Including Flavanoids, In Teas And Supplements Could Be Unhealthy" warns about the dangers of supplementing with phytochemicals. Apparently high doses can be toxic. The second article, "Chemical In Red Wine, Fruits And Vegetables May Stop Cancer, Heart Disease, Depending On The Dose," suggests that the best way to prevent cancer might be to supplement with high doses of phytochemicals, since the amounts naturally found in foods are okay but More would be Way Better. (To be fair, they were talking about Future Not-Yet Invented Supplements, which would of course be safe).

Of course Crabby realizes that (1) these two conclusions are not mutually exclusive and (2) nutrition and disease prevention are complicated matters, and it takes a long time and a lot of studies to sort it out.

But darn it, all these apparent inconsistencies make it hard for lazy bloggers like Crabby! How can she sum up her nutritional recommendations into Simple Snappy Headlines if the data just doesn't play along? She hates to mess around with detail and nuance and uncertainty. Perhaps she will just say Screw it and recommend Cupcake Supplementation instead.

Good News for Nappers!
"A nap today may be beneficial for mental processing tomorrow." And according to this study, not only might you get cognitive improvements from your midday snooze lasting clear into the next day, a nap apparently won't keep you from conking out at night either. However the study involved "normal sleepers" sixty years of age or older. Which is somewhat confusing in that the article starts off by saying that "people over age 60 sleep two hours less per night than their younger counterparts."

Red Wine Headaches? Here's An Easy Sol... Oh Hell, Never Mind.
Some folks react strongly to "biogenic amines" which can hide in red wine and other fermented, aged, or pickled foods (like chocolate, cheese, olives, nuts and cured meats). These nasty amines can cause unpleasant symptoms like headaches, high blood pressure, heart palpitations and elevated adrenaline levels. However, there's help on the way! A new gadget invented by U. C. Berkeley researchers can detect nasty amines so you can stay well away from foods that contain them. This all sounded quite handy until Crabby got to this part of the article: "The prototype — the size of a small briefcase — uses a drop of wine to determine amine levels in five minutes..."

Yeah, make sure you bring that with you on your next dinner date.

So Enough About Health Already, it's Friday!

Kid Sex Change?
Visit this blog for an amusing compilation of Unfortunate Company Logos, Names, Signs, and Slogans, most of which are at least vaguely obscene.

And Healthbolt ran this picture a while ago, but it cracked Crabby up so she'll go ahead and swipe it herself:

NerdTests.com - Child CPR



But What About Animals That Exercise?


Funny you should ask... Sure, we got 'em! Try these photos or this video if you need your weekly fix. And have a great weekend!

21 comments:

  1. The pot study and the nap study go together so well.
    Love the logos link.

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  2. Oh lordie!

    Ok, so I'm the headache from wine/nuts/chocolate type, so I guess I'll be carrying around that briefcase out on dinners now...

    or perhaps I should just be getting high beforehand so I don't feel any pain? But then I might be over-indulging at said dinner.

    guys like a girl with a good appetite, right?

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  3. Ok, so are those firefighters in an argument? They needed to be separated? It's definitely a good pic whatever the reason!

    If red wine or chocolate gave me headaches I'd be a sad, sad girl.

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  4. THe skateboarding dog was so cool!
    Definitely saving that one to show the kiddies...

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  5. Love that last picture...funny the only thing I heard from those studies was "red wine -good!". So I will ignore the rest and live happily ever after.

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  6. Hey! Where'd my comment go? I noticed that the other day too. I entered something - extremely well written and thought provoking, as well as humorous and senstive at the same time - and it never showed up. Harumph.

    Ok, here we go again:

    I love the CPR photo. Usually, it's the bystanders who lose their head - not the victim.

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  7. Hi, I love how you are running this blog. I just started a blog of my own and I was wondering if you would like to do a link exchange with my site. My site can be found at:

    Absolutesportsreport.blogspot.com

    If you want to do this, just leave a comment on my site, on any post, and I’ll link you later that night.

    Thanks,
    Dave

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  8. These comments weren't nearly as random as your Fridays usually are, you must have had a nap yesterday!

    The logos were a riot!

    The wine checker is a hoot. Five minutes later the results are in?!?!? My first glass is usually gone before that!!! (especially if I had been lugging around a suitcase sized testing device all day.)

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  9. I love the way you guys are always able to tie these random-ass things together so entertainingly!

    And Marijke, the disappearing comment thing happens to me all the time--in my case, though, it's user error: I think I hit "preview" and figure I'm done.

    And Holly--haven't had my nap yet but I'm sure giving it a thought! And I think if red wine starts giving me a headache, I'll just say screw the briefcase and I'll switch to chardonnnay instead.

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  10. The logos link is good - but the best is the CPR, damned near choked on my chocolate ;)

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  11. I'd have been here sooner but I was having my "tokin" booze 'n' snooze. Now I forget what I was gonna say, man!

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  12. Where do these studies come from? I read about another where people tried magic mushrooms in order to determine the effects of magic mushrooms.

    Meanwhile Drake University's still proud of a behavioral study it did on a duck.

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  13. Agent Double or Nuthin' here - love the CPR photo! That's exactly the way it SHOULD be done - separate the men from the boys.
    (Sheesh, guess I'm gonna have to lay off the booze and weed...did my comment even begin to make sense?)
    Must have spent too much of the day in close contact with knitted slippers and dishcloths, and strange stuffed socks masquerading as reindeer...and I have to go back tomorrow...sigh.

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  14. Hi all, hope you've survived all your boozey naps and magic mushrooms and crazy craft fairs and are off enjoying a great weekend!

    If the site gets hosed up over the next couple days--I'm contemplating trying to make the switch to "Crankyfitness.com" but it looks VERY complicated as I don't know DNS from DNR and I will probably break the internet.

    wish me luck.

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  15. Isn't that risky? We might not get our Cranky fix. Now I'm worried. :(

    And word verification can be entertaining in its own way. Some sites make it into a game, trying to see what kind of words you can make from the verification.

    rppou - the sound made when Mary tried on a pair of pants that were a couple sizes too optimistic

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  16. Mary, I would have turned on Word Verification a long time ago if I knew folks could be so creative with it!

    Just kidding--I think it's a huge pain in the ass, as only funny folks like you can turn it into a game. The rest of us just curse it and have to try three times to decipher the letters.

    But I was getting a persistent spammer, probably not human.

    I think I'm now at www.crankyfitness.com, so step one is done. Step two is figuring out how not to start over as a brand new blog with zero links. Should be interesting!

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  17. Crabby, don't worry if you break the Internet. I am sure Al Gore will be able to fix it!

    P.S. I will be glad when the spammer is gone and you can turn the word verification back off!

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  18. Love the title picture. Also, you seem to be getting a bit cynical miss Crab. Scientists never agree and when they do look where it gets them. I mean for over a century they thought scurvy was airborne so...

    It does make for funny reading though; by the time I got to the nap report I cracked up -- actually out loud. That was too funny, "Normal sleepers" but only over age 60! Lord.

    Too bad you couldn't be a part of some of these, to offer some objections. Maybe you should incorporate that into a widget, "Crabby's scientific views for rent; available for studies of all sorts." That would rock.

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  19. Wait. I just went through the comments -- are you changing blogs? Or links? What? Did I miss an important post?

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  20. Jennifer--nothing all that interesting, I'm just trying to switch to a custom domain name so I can tell people I have a blog at "crankyfitness.com" and they can find me. Blogger will still host (cause I'm cheap).

    Same ol' Cranky Fitness, but now, with 99% less authority!

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  21. Crabby--

    Another excellent random Friday. I loved the logos and I really appreciate nap approval.

    Terrie

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