Chaser, often described as “the world’s smartest dog,” made headlines worldwide for being able to identify objects by their names. Thanks to Al MacR for sending this in.
Many
owners struggle to teach their dogs to sit, fetch or even bark on command, but
John W. Pilley, a professor emeritus of psychology at Wofford College, taught
his Border collie to understand more than 1,000 nouns, a feat that earned them both worldwide recognition.
Chaser died on Tuesday at 15. She had
been living with Dr. Pilley’s wife, Sally, and their daughter Robin in
Spartanburg. Dr. Pilley died last year at 89.
Another daughter, Pilley Bianchi,
said on Saturday that Chaser had been in declining health in recent weeks. “The
vet really determined that she died of natural causes,”
Ms. Bianchi said. “She went down very quickly.”
Posted inAnimals|Comments Off on Chaser – man and woman’s smartest friend
Thanks to Lorraine Woods for this note. It seems to me that the elevator talk a Skyline is a real plus in socialization. Are we a national model?
It’s National Talk in an Elevator Day. Why
do you need to know that? Because research shows that although most people ride
in complete silence on the 7 billion elevator trips every day, even a
little bit of chatter can be uplifting when it comes to your emotional and
physical health. It turns out that elevator chats are a
fine art — and there’s even a guide.
Celibacy
can be a choice in life, or a condition imposed by circumstances.
While
attending a Marriage Weekend, Frank and his wife Ann listened to the instructor
declare, “It is essential that husbands and wives know the things that are
important to each other.”
He then
addressed the men.
“Can
you name and describe your wife’s favorite flower?”
Frank
leaned over, touched Ann’s arm gently, and whisered,
Ed Note: Dr. Peters-Mathews has been invited back by popular demand. He is an expert in all areas of sleep disorders from sleep apnea to insomnia.
From the National Sleep Foundation: We tend to think of sleep as a time when the mind and body shut down. But this is not the case; sleep is an active period in which a lot of important processing, restoration, and strengthening occurs. Exactly how this happens and why our bodies are programmed for such a long period of slumber is still somewhat of a mystery. But scientists do understand some of sleep’s critical functions, and the reasons we need it for optimal health and wellbeing.
One of the vital roles of sleep is to help us solidify and consolidate memories. As we go about our day, our brains take in an incredible amount of information. Rather than being directly logged and recorded, however, these facts and experiences first need to be processed and stored; and many of these steps happen while we sleep. Overnight, bits and pieces of information are transferred from more tentative, short-term memory to stronger, long-term memory—a process called “consolidation.” Researchers have also shown that after people sleep, they tend to retain information and perform better on memory tasks. Our bodies all require long periods of sleep in order to restore and rejuvenate, to grow muscle, repair tissue, and synthesize hormones.
Posted insleep|Comments Off on Come learn about sleep! Thursday 11AM in the MBR – Dr. Brandon Peters-Mathews
Posted inPolitics|Comments Off on Judy Woodruff interviews George Will about his new book, “The Conservative Sensibility” – and why he left the Republican Party
Ed note: One of the issues that Geriatricians face sorting through the number of medications we take – for BP, heart, clotting, cholesterol, depression, etc. This interesting TED talks about how data analysis might help to sort out bad combinations – or even find good ones. For now, please question your doc, “Do I really benefit from all these meds?” And make sure you bring in all the OTC supplements and vitamins. I can still remember a case of a woman poisoned by lead from “natural” calcium (which had been collected from lead contaminated cow bones.) Moral: Often we benefit from fewer pills and in lower doses as we age. Thanks to Gordon G for finding this.
Ed note: Have you really read the Mueller Report? Or did you stay up all night at Town Hall listening to the non-stop reading? Or have you at least bought the book? Most of us including me, would sheepishly say “no” to these questions. The report itself is highly dense and not easy to read. So Lawfare has initiated a Podcast. It’s a useful way to give us what we should know – in more detail and context. Part One of the podcast deals with the Internet Research Agency (IRA) in Moscow and details Russia’s interference activities. Part Two, I believe, is now out.
If you are new to Podcasts, it’s the purple icon preloaded on your smartphone. Tap on the “search” magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the screen, type in “The Report” and select it from the list of results. Then click “listen” or “subscribe” to have future episodes automatically downloaded.
From Lawfare: For the past several weeks, a group of us has been working on a project to tell the story of the Mueller Report in an accessible form. The Mueller Report tells a heck of a story, a bunch of incredible stories, actually. But it does so in a form that’s hard for a lot of people to take in. It’s very long. It’s legally dense in spots. It’s marred with redactions. It’s also, shall we say, not optimized for your reading pleasure.
Various folks have made efforts to make the document easier to consume: the report is now an audiobook; it’s been staged as a play; there have been live readings. We took a different approach: a serialized narrative podcast.
The extended network of writers, experts, lawyers, and journalists around Lawfare represents a unique body of expertise in the public conversation of the issues discussed in the report. So we teamed up with Goat Rodeo, a podcast production group in Washington, to use that group of people as a lens through which to tell the story contained in the report. The first episode, entitled “Active Measures,” is now out and covers the Russian social media campaign and the activities of the Internet Research Agency.
From the NYT: Calorie restriction led to weight loss, lower cholesterol and less inflammation. Whether it extends life span and wards off disease long-term remains unproven.
Scientists have long known a fairly reliable way to extend life span in rodents and other lab animals: Reduce the amount of calories they eat by 10 percent to 40 percent.
This strategy, known as caloric restriction, has been shown to increase the life span of various organisms and reduce their rate of cancer and other age-related ailments. Whether it can do the same in people has been an open question. But an intriguing new study suggests that in young and middle-aged adults, chronically restricting calorie intake can have an impact on their health.
From Crosscut: Seattle’s Landmarks Preservation Board delivered a victory to “Save the Showbox” supporters Wednesday night, as it voted unanimously to designate the building that houses the downtown music venue a historic landmark.
The landmark nomination, submitted last August by Historic Seattle, Friends of Historic Belltown and Vanishing Seattle, focused on the property’s architectural style and its cultural significance — two of the six possible landmark-designation criteria.
“We are ecstatic that our city, through today’s designation by the Landmarks Preservation Board, has formally recognized what so many people have known and said all along: The Showbox is a landmark and this place matters,” Eugenia Woo, director of preservation services at Historic Seattle, said in a statement.
Landmark status only protects a building’s physical elements and does not guarantee that the Showbox, located on First Avenue between Union and Pike streets, would continue as a music venue.
“While we celebrate this exciting victory, we know that our work is far from over,” Woo said, adding that the organization, which has previously expressed interest in buying the property, will continue its fundraising campaign.
The next step is for the board, the city and the owner to negotiate a controls and incentives agreement, according to Woo. “Controls” pertain to the features that are meant to be preserved and that the owner must get approval from the board before altering.
“But if negotiations fail then the process takes another path,” Woo said in an email, also noting that the board specifically designated the building’s entire exterior and large portions of the interior, including the First Avenue entrance and the entire second floor. “It’s unclear what’s ahead. It depends on the owner.”
Wednesday’s vote is the latest episode in a yearlong saga that began with news that the Showbox, which has played host to major musical acts of all genres for decades, would likely be sold and redeveloped.
The protections that come with landmark status are far weaker than the ones sought in a Seattle City Council-backed effort that was struck down last month by King County Superior Court Judge Patrick Oishi. That effort sought to temporarily expand the Pike Place Market Historical District to include the Showbox, but was ultimately ruled an illegal zoning change. The city council passed an ordinance granting a temporary expansion of the district after building owner Roger Forbes announced he was possibly selling the Showbox, which opened in 1939, and an ownership group from British Columbia expressed interest in building a 44-story residential tower on the site. That group has since backed out.
Forbes is pursuing damages.
The building’s ownership noted that the building, first opened in 1917, has spent periods of time vacant and has previously been used as a furniture store and a bingo hall.
In a statement, Aaron Pickus, spokesman for Showbox ownership, said: “1426 First Avenue has enjoyed a wide spectrum of uses and a broad application of design changes throughout its existence. We respect the work of the Landmark Preservation Board to designate the property as a landmark, but disagree with both the reasoning and the decision itself. We will further evaluate their designation as we consider next steps.”
Historic Seattle says the building has served as a music venue for 58 of the 102 years it has operated.
Wouldn’t it be nice if when you called 911, that they knew a lot about you including your medical problems, medications, advance directives, allergies, contacts and even your pets! With Smart911, you can provide 9-1-1 call takers and first responders critical information you want them to know in any kind of emergency. You can even upload your advance directives including your POLST form to the 911.com web site.
When you call 9-1-1, your profile displays right away to the operator, dispatcher and medics. You can provide as much or as little information as you like.
Smart911 is a national service meaning your Smart911 Safety Profile travels with you and is visible to any participating 9-1-1 center nationwide. It’s easy to register. Just go on-line to smart911.com and follow along to enter your data. It could be life saving! By the way, 911 wants to talk to you directly when you call in order to decide what aid needs to be sent. But also call the front desk to alert them if 911 is coming.
Posted inHealth|Comments Off on Smart911.com – a personalized connection when/if you ever call
A local writer reflects on fear, family and fatigue as the Trump administration prepares to mount deportation raids in cities across the country.
My oldest child, 10, is precocious, charismatic and bright beyond her years. She starred in her school’s play this spring and just finished The Hate U Give for Seattle Arts & Lectures Summer Book Bingo. My middle one, 5, is imaginative and delicate. Catch him on any given day as Alexander Hamilton or Batman. My youngest just turned 4. She insisted we celebrate with a unicorn tea party — exactly the kind of baby that makes “the baby of the family” a cliché. All three were born in the U.S.
Earlier this week, their president directed a large-scale rounding-up of undocumented immigrants across the country, planned for Sunday.
I was on my way out of town on a family vacation when the news broke, and as we waited for the announcement detailing which cities the raids would happen in, I wondered if I should stay out of town longer than planned. Should we find a hotel for two more nights? Can I afford missing another day of work?
My kids don’t know about this administration’s plan to deport thousands of immigrants. I don’t tell them that one of those could easily be me. They’re young, after all, and my son cries when I wade too far out into the ocean. The only thing they’d hear is the fear.
It’s important that I tell you about my family before I tell you about myself. That way, they’re the ones you remember, if you never get through this. They’re the reason I’m writing this at all, that I asked for anonymity.
I arrived in the U.S. at 5 years old. My parents were graduates from a university in Japan. During the years they spent searching for a “professional” career opportunity, we relied on extended family and labored in the dry heat of apple season in Eastern Washington, alongside undocumented workers.
We’ve always known we were lucky.
We navigated the hall of mirrors that is America’s legal immigration system: submitting this change of status form before applying for that visa, appearing before this judge ahead of filing a motion with that other court, getting physicals and being fingerprinted at the will of the federal government. Then — in the shadow of 9/11, an unlucky time to be an immigrant — we were denied our green card application. Then denied three more times before being placed in deportation proceedings.
I’ve been in deportation proceedings or undocumented my entire adult life. I’m lucky enough to have a private, liberal arts college education that led to decent-paying jobs. I make enough to afford a two-bedroom apartment on the margins of Seattle. And I work in politics, which, at my most optimistic, feels like a kind of safety net, a small — maybe even perceived — protection afforded me by some proximity to some power.
Living in America in 2019 as an undocumented immigrant is like living any other ordinary American life: working, struggling to pay the bills, summer barbecues — except every other day the banality of living is punctuated by some cruelty that throws you into a spiral of fear, anxiety and, in my case and many others, depression. I heard a news report about Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s weekend plans on my way to the beach with my kids in the back seat, pretending to be unmoved. On the light rail, I heard the heartbreaking testimony of an asylum-seeking mother whose 19-month-old daughter died after being held in ICE custody. Between meetings, I come across the picture of a father and daughter washed up on the shore of the Rio Grande, their bodies not so different from mine.
I cry every time. I cry for them. I cry for my family. I cry because, from my position, crying sometimes feels like the only thing I can do. Then I cry because I know I’m luckier than most.
If I get picked up, the best case scenario is that I don’t see my kids for several months. The worst case is unfathomable — as in, I don’t really bother to try to conceive of the cruelty I’d be subject to.
This is the part where I urge you to flood the Department of Homeland Security with calls and emails, protest at detention centers and ports of entry, reach out to your congressional representative. But the truth is: my imagination is spent. That’s for you to figure out. I don’t know how else to beg to be seen — especially as I write this knowing my name will appear nowhere near it. It’s unclear how, in this context, to ask for mercy, grace, compassion. Not just for me, but for all.
Amazon’s history in a nutshell. Click here for the fascinating click-through story of how this amazing company seems to be taking over the world. Thanks Gordon G for sending this in.
Posted inUncategorized|Comments Off on Amazon – history in pictures
Town Hall is sponsoring a 24 hour , LIVE reading of the Mueller Report (yes, all 448 pages) beginning at 8pm on July 19, Friday. It will go round the clock until 8pm on Saturday the 20th.
There will be about 100 people, actors and activists from
Washington State, who are doing this as a public service. While the
event is free to the Public and will be held at our newly restored Town Hall,
down the street on 8th Avenue, we are asked to give $ donations which
will be used to buy food and drinks for the actors and activists.
Otherwise the $ will be donated to the ACLU.
TH expects that audience members will be in and out of the
reading over the 24 hours.
This is an excellent way to also see the newly restored TH
and their new sound system.
