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Archive for December, 2007

Waking up and going to work is stressful. What can you do about it?

Published by Tristan on December 27, 2007 in activism, asides and work. 0 Comments

Grogginess, grogginess, please go away. Grogginess, grogginess, please don’t come back another day.

After 5 days away from work, I had one heck of a time getting back into the swing of things this morning. Though my grogginess probably wouldn’t have been helped with the addition of grog, I felt like I could’ve used some to help me navigate the treacherous waters of work. Luckily, I came across this article called “7 ways to restart your day”, which will hopefully help me feel better about waking up early and slogging away every weekday.

Among the tips:

As soon as the alarm rings …
Spend your first 15 seconds awake planning something nice to do for yourself today.

Get up
The longer you lie there, the more you ruminate, the darker your outlook is likely to become, says Christine Padesky, Ph.D., coauthor of “Mind Over Mood.” So get vertical and make a cup of coffee, take a shower, feed the cat …

Drink …
Two glasses of water upon awakening, the time when our bodies are dehydrated, says Susan M. Kleiner, Ph.D., author of “The Good Mood Diet.” Dehydration causes fatigue, which affects your mood.

Move it
Just a few minutes of movement — a fast walk, for example — raises energy and reduces tension, says mood expert Robert Thayer, Ph.D., professor of psychology at California State University, Long Beach, and author of “Calm Energy.”

Investigate
When you’re dogged by anxiety or the dread you woke up with, try to pinpoint what’s causing it. If you can figure out why you’re upset, that’s halfway to feeling better.

Be kind and thankful
Do something nice for a stranger or friend and see if you don’t feel better about yourself. Also, jot down three things that you’re grateful for. It seems so simple, but counting your blessings just has a way of making you remember the sun is shining.

Laugh at yourself
Look at your own life and try to appreciate the absurdity of what doesn’t go exactly according to plan. Acknowledging how little control we actually have over what happens is sometimes a most freeing gift to yourself.

Hope this helps (you and me!)

Also, this blog has some good points about work and vacation. Additionally, timeday.org is a good place to check out and advocate for. Timeday.org is the website for Take Back Your Time, a major U.S./Canadian initiative to challenge the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine that now threatens our health, our families and relationships, our communities and our environment. Sounds good to me!

Humane Society of the United States’ achievements in 2007

Published by Tristan on December 10, 2007 in activism, animals and asides. 0 Comments

Besides this morning’s sentencing of Michael Vick, there were other impressive victories for the Humane Society of the United States in 2007:

The last two states — New Mexico and Louisiana — outlawed cockfighting, and Congress passed a seminal law strengthening penalties for animal fighting. HSUS supporters also pressured Nike to drop a multi-million-dollar endorsement deal with Vick after his role in illegal dogfighting was uncovered.

Horse slaughter was finally eliminated on U.S. soil when Texas and Illinois shut down the last remaining slaughterhouses in the nation.

Animals were rescued from natural disasters, and HSUS provided care for hundreds of pets and farm animals threatened by California’s recent wildfires.

Some of the worst cruelties of factory farming were stopped when the largest veal and pig producers committed to abandon the use of tiny crates and cages, more companies and consumers switched to cage-free eggs, and Oregon’s legislature made history by passing legislation outlawing the use of gestation crates to confine breeding pigs.

What’s most important for next year? Leave a comment to discuss!

Loudon Wainwright III and Amy LaVere in concert at the Clifton Center in Louisville, KY

Published by Tristan on December 10, 2007 in concerts and music. 0 Comments

Loudon Wainwright and opener Amy LaVere put on a wonderfully intimate show last night at the Clifton Center near historic Frankfort Ave. in Louisville, Kentucky. It was my first time seeing either of the musicians, and it was an enjoyable experience of musical uppers and downers.

Amy LaVere LaVere opened with a few notes on her stand-up bass, comically plastered with a bass-fishing sticker. I liked the girl right away She and her high-pitched, almost cartoony voice, her twangy guitarist, and drummer belted out some rockers, some downers, and some hard-to-explain tunes (Gypsy/latin/polka-inspired? This blog has a more detailed description.) No matter what you’d call them, she played some songs that might make you want to dance, cry, or dance and cry at the same time.

Wainwright followed LaVere with quite the one-man show. I’d seen him act, albeit briefly, in The Aviator and Knocked Up, but neither prepared me for his rubbery expressions. They don’t seem forced, and I sure did get a kick out of them. His music was excellent, too. I’m not generally a big fan of one-man/acoustic-guitar shows, but Wainwright’s songwriting, strumming, and obvious love of performance kept my attention throughout the ~90-minute show. He enjoyed a beer onstage and won me over with songs that made me want to laugh, cry, or laugh and cry at the same time.

Television’s assault on true democracy: Superficiality reigns supreme

Published by Tristan on December 9, 2007 in media and politics. 0 Comments

broken tv Television might be the worst thing to happen to civilized society. Too many Americans rely on it for their political opinions, and taking political stances based on superficial exposure is a dangerous thing.

Take a look at pictures of the presidential candidates, and you’ll see there’s not an ugly, disfigured freak amongst them (although one of them is awfully elf-like… or leprechaun-like?). Not that it would necessarily be a good thing if an ugly, disfigured freak (like the hunchback in 300) were to lead our country, but it might be a good thing: it could show the world that we aren’t nation comprised only of self-absorbed, gas-guzzling, overweight, narcissistic, plastic-surgery-obsessed nation-rebuilders (no offense meant to those of us that are any of the aforementioned.) It would also show that we’re more concerned with what candidates do and say rather than how they say it.

My point is that people, in this country and others, rely far too much on what they see on TV for their information, political and otherwise. They tend not to read and do investigative research when making important decisions like who they’ll vote on to be president, and that’s unfortunate. They’re likely to take what they see on TV at face value, especially if it’s a pretty face saying some pretty things. McInformation is too ubiquitous in our culture and thus too easy to digest.

If Abraham Lincoln were to run for president today, he’d need an awful lot of makeup — kinda like one of the last guys who ran for president.

Japanese use “culture” as lame excuse for barbaric whale hunting

Published by Tristan on December 6, 2007 in asides, biology, economy and environment. 0 Comments

For anyone that doesn’t believe killing whales is cruel and that the Japanese have a cultural right to do so, Tony Long at Wired has a good editorial you should check out. The barbaric practice is far from being relevant today, and Long makes some good points. An exerpt:

“This isn’t about culture. Like almost everything else in the world that stains the human spirit, this is about greed.

Whaling, as practiced by the nation-states, has always been a purely commercial venture. In the Age of Sail the industry grew out of economic necessity. When a whale was killed all of it was used — as food, as lamp oil, as lubricant. Whalebone was used to make corset stays and scrimshaw. Blubber was used to make soap and cosmetics. A single whale — remember, we’re talking about the largest animal on earth — could produce a lot of stuff and that meant a lot of money. Continue reading ‘Japanese use “culture” as lame excuse for barbaric whale hunting’

Why men can’t find things they’re looking for, don’t shop well, and can’t wrap presents…

Published by Tristan on December 6, 2007 in biology, holidays and shopping. 0 Comments

holiday battle of the sexes Yay! Finally, some scientific evidence to show that it’s not my fault that I can’t find anything in the fridge or cupboard until I ask my wife! This terrific article at the UK’s Daily Mail offers scientific explanation for:

- why men can’t find anything they’re looking for around the house (hint: it has to do with men’s primordial hunting skills and biology.)

-why men wait until the last minute to do their holiday shopping (hint: it has to do with men’s primordial hunting skills and biology. We go for the kill and then go home.)

- why women are good at wrapping Christmas presents and men aren’t (hint: it has to do with men’s primordial hunting skills and biology. Our eyes are better suited for long-range tunnel vision, good for sighting prey.)

- why women are better at multitasking than men (hint: it, um… doesn’t have to do with hunting)

Continue reading ‘Why men can’t find things they’re looking for, don’t shop well, and can’t wrap presents…’

Eco-Friendly Product Claims Often Misleading

Published by Tristan on December 1, 2007 in asides, environment and shopping. 0 Comments

From NPR:

‘The Six Sins of Greenwashing’

NPR.org, November 29, 2007 · The environmental marketing firm TerraChoice evaluated more than 1,000 retail products for their environmental claims. Based on its research, the firm came up with what it calls “The Six Sins of Greenwashing.”