Rest Day Read (SR-12)
Aphorism #106 Do not parade your Position
-from “The Art of Worldly Wisdom” by Balthasar Gracian
“If you wish to be valued, be valued for your talents…”
Yesterday, I was reading “Chickamagua” by Ambrose Bierce (which was scheduled to be today’s story) on the web site which I use to link the short stories in these rest day reads. On of the ads at the bottom of the page was a box to sign up for the free daily email from “The Art of Worldly Wisdom”, which was written in the 1600s by Fr. Balthasar Gracian . Obscure to say the least, but being a lover of the obscure and forgotten, I jumped at the chance. This was the first one I received today and it is both a doozy AND timely. Earn respect and value, every day.
Category Archives: Reads
Rest Day Read 2-28-10
Alien Dog Attack Part 8
What to do now? The Hays teenagers are held captive by the Alien Attack Dog (which, if you have teenagers, may not be the worse place in the world for them. If we get out of this thing alive, I might have to borrow that gravity-rock-shackle-thingy). Big Bad Bud has presented ridiculous demands for his “unique” services. And the future of the world as we know it lies in the balance. I close up Chucky the Wonder hamster’s exer-globe and, without thinking, toss it to the ground. Big Bad Bud senses easy prey and shoots from the garage smack into the hamster globe, which rolls down the sidewalk, bounces off the fence and into the driveway. With Bud in hot pursuit, Chucky the Wonder Hamster regains his senses notices the killer feline bouncing after him and takes off running down the street in the plastic globe passing old Mrs. Johnson in her 1972 Pontiac Bonneville on Washington Street. Well, at least that gets Bud and Chucky out of my hair for a few minutes so I can try to think of a way out of this impending doom.
Let me think…let me think… Everything has a weakness, hasn’t it? Achilles had his tendon, Napoleon had his Waterloo, The Wolf Man had silver bullets, Michael Jordan had baseball, Scooby-Doo had Scooby Snacks….wait a minute! Could it be that easy? Could the AAD share the same weakness with millions and millions of earth dogs, that insatiable desire for dog treats? It could be the answer! It went gaga over the green tennis ball, didn’t it? Quickly, I jump into the 1992 Nissan and head to the Ranch and Pet to pick up what could be the answer mankind so desperately needs, Science Diet Dog Treats!
Rest Day Read 2-23-10
Rest Day Read (SR-11)
Exercise as Medicine?
SR-11a An ADHD Med Without Side Effects by ADDitude Magazine Editors
“Exercise turns on the attention system, the so-called executive functions-sequencing, working memory, prioritizing, inhibiting, and sustaining attention…On a practical level, it causes (ADHD) kids to be less impulsive, which makes them more primed to learn.”
SR-11b Riding is My Ritalin by Bruce Barcott
“For the past 30 years, athletes, coaches, sports psychologists and medical researchers have probed and debated one of the most complex mysteries of the human body: How does exercise affect the brain? Common sense and our own experience tell us it does something. Every parent knows the best way to settle down a hopped up kid is to take him out to the playground and run the bug juice out of him. A generation ago, teachers and coaches frequently use this approach as well.”
Folks, we need more “bug juice” run out of us. In a previous post, the evidence suggests a mutation in the “wandering” gene may play a role in ADHD. Let’s see, we can treat a genetic predisposition to want to move (and go, go, go) by exercising the body/brain or we can overload with medication. Which should we choose? Which would we choose? Which DO we choose?
Rest Day Read 2-18-10
Rest Day Read (SR-10)
Slow Tuesday Night by R.A. Lafferty
(direct link to Sci-Fi archives, or use this Neil Gaiman’s blog post , if can’t get to it from direct link)
“Freddy rented an office and had it furnished. This took one minute, negotiation, selection, and installation being almost instantaneous. Then he invented the manus module; that took another minute. He then had it manufactured and marketed; in three minutes it was in the hand of key buyers.
It caught on. It was an attractive module. The flow of orders began within thirty seconds. By ten minutes after eight every important person had one of the new manus modules, and the trend had been set. The module began to sell in the millions. It was one of the most interesting fads of the night, or at least the early part of the night.”
I found a link to this short story last week on Neil Gaiman’s blog. He linked it in reference to how fast communication can generate forces, both positive and negative in today’s technological environment. It is the first story I have read by R.A. Lafferty, so being curious, I googled him. Very interesting story about his life and work here. Grumpy, old, Catholic, sci-fi writer from the midwest, who did not start writing until his late 40’s. Now I am intrigued to read more of his work.
On a side note, if you are looking for something good for a quick read, try Neil Gaiman’s Newberry Award winning, The Graveyard Book. Good stuff.
Alien Dog Attack Part 7
As I sit on the back porch, contemplating the demands set forth by Big Bad Bud, the hamster ball is thrown out the hole in the laser beam blown side of the house. Chucky the Wonder Hamster rushes frantically around the back of the house in his exer-globe to find me. Inside of the ball, (besides Chucky the Wonder Hamster, of course) I find a letter and photo enclosed…
Dear Human,
It was a grave error to contact the filthy, evil feline for assistance. I have taken your humans as prisoners from the Hays House. They young earthlings are currently safe and held under the gravitational shackles of the guardian stone. Do not mistake those facial expressions for smiles of joy, they are facial expressions formed from the incredibly painful weight of the guardian stone. They are being held in a secret location until you cease and desist communication with the filthy, evil feline and surrender your planet to the Wonder Dogs from Outer Space. Do not attempt a rescue. Do not attempt to call your human law enforcement or military representatives. Their powers are worthless compared to the WonDogs. Victory is inevitable, surrender your planet within 48 hours, or else…
Alien Attack Dog
T minus 48 hours and counting…
Rest Day Read 2-13-10
Rest Day Read (SR-9)
Bartelby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street
by Herman Melville
“While of other law copyist I might write the complete life, of Bartelby nothing of that sort can be done.”
I suppose I should write the usual commentary and opinions of this classic short story. I suppose I should write how the story is a bit verbose (but, it IS Melville), how it provides a very unique look at the times and a profile of one very odd individual. BUT… I would prefer not to.
Filed under Reads
Rest Day Read 2-8-10 Pt.3
Part 2: Rest Day Read (SR-8)
Fitness and the Brain
Today’s article by Lisa Bakshi describes her research on exercise and academic performance with 2nd grade students at an elementary school in San Diego, California. Not only did the study group perform proficient or advanced on state math and language arts standardized tests, they also exhibited a strong desire for the exercise program to continue because it made them feel healthier and smarter. A big THANK YOU to Lisa Bakshi and CrossFit Kids (www.crossfitkids.com). Simple solutions to complex problems.
Article SR-8a
How to Build a Better Neural Highway? By Cyndi Rodi
“Complexity in movement engages the cognitive and motor areas of the brain in tandem. This facilitates more efficient and effective brain function that provides for better information processing and recall.”
Article SR-8b
Exercise Seen as Priming Pump for Students’ Academic Strides. By Debra Viadero
“Had the creators of No Child Left Behind looked at the data, they would’ve have realized that physical activity is good for the brain,” said Charles H. Hillman, an associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
With his university colleague Darla M. Castelli, Mr. Hillman assessed the physical-fitness levels of 239 3rd and 5th graders from four Illinois elementary schools. Their findings published last year, in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, show that children who got good marks on two measures of physical fitness-those that gauge aerobic fitness and body-mass index-tended also to have higher scores on state exams in reading and mathematics. That relationship also held true regardless of children’s gender or socioeconomic differences.”
Article SR-8c
Will CrossFit Make American Kids Smarter? By Lisa Bakshi
“This enormous increase in achievement in the core subjects was accomplished despite the fact that students were out of the classroom and away from direct instruction for 30 minutes a day in order to take part in the CrossFit Kids workout of the day.” (Note: Remember priming the pump?) “The previously cited argument that participation in daily fitness classes takes away from academic performance was simply not observed in this research project. The fact that the treatment group was able to out-perform every other group of students in the school in the area of mathematics may even provide indirect evidence of a causal relationship between exercise and cognition.”
Rest Day Read 2-8-10 pt.2
Part 2: Rest Day Read (SR-8)
Fitness and the Brain
Yesterday’s article by Ms. Rodi talked about the basics of how the brain learns and presents four stimuli for learning, 1) Novel experiences prime the brain for learning the new information. 2) Repetition makes the learning permanent. 3) Complexity increase learning or more simply, we learn better with movement. Stimulation of the brain in multiple ways seems to make the neural connections stronger. 4) Hebb Rule – associate learning with positive stimuli, i.e make learning an enjoyable, positive experience. Note that “positive stimuli” does not mean it has to be EASY.
Today’s article by Debra Viadero from Education Week takes more of a look at exercise connected to learning in schools. The more I begin to learn on this subject, the more I want to visit our school board, district superintendent and school administrators and slap some sense into them. Why are we spending big dollars focusing on crap that is not working AND turning right around and cutting the relatively cheap programs that research shows helps increase academic performance? My hope is that you become motivated to contact said school officials and ask questions. Make them account for their decisions. Make them account for choosing to stay in the dark.
Article SR-8a
How to Build a Better Neural Highway? By Cyndi Rodi
“Complexity in movement engages the cognitive and motor areas of the brain in tandem. This facilitates more efficient and effective brain function that provides for better information processing and recall.”
Article SR-8b
Exercise Seen as Priming Pump for Students’ Academic Strides. By Debra Viadero
“Had the creators of No Child Left Behind looked at the data, they would’ve have realized that physical activity is good for the brain,” said Charles H. Hillman, an associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
With his university colleague Darla M. Castelli, Mr. Hillman assessed the physical-fitness levels of 239 3rd and 5th graders from four Illinois elementary schools. Their findings published last year, in the Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, show that children who got good marks on two measures of physical fitness-those that gauge aerobic fitness and body-mass index-tended also to have higher scores on state exams in reading and mathematics. That relationship also held true regardless of children’s gender or socioeconomic differences.”
Article SR-8c
Will CrossFit Make American Kids Smarter? By Lisa Bakshi
Fam-Fit Rest Day Read 2-8-10 Pt. 1
Rest Day Read (SR-8)
Fitness and the Brain
This will be a series of three articles, highlighted one at a time over the next 3 posts. I feel very strongly about developing and training well-rounded human machines. The well-rounded renaissance individual (e.g. Jefferson, Franklin, Washington) made America the great country that it is. Our systems and the powers that be complain about health/wellness/intelligence issues with our younger generations, yet continue to trim, cut and axe the programs that deal head on with these alarming issues. Maybe we shouldn’t wait for the systems to come around, maybe we need to take the bull by the horns on this one, before we slide any further. Just a warning, I will probably break out in a rant sometime on this subject over the next few posts. I just can’t help it.
Article SR-8a
How to Build a Better Neural Highway? By Cyndi Rodi
“Complexity in movement engages the cognitive and motor areas of the brain in tandem. This facilitates more efficient and effective brain function that provides for better information processing and recall.”
Article SR-8b
Exercise Seen as Priming Pump for Students’ Academic Strides. By Debra Viadero
Article SR-8c
Will CrossFit Make American Kids Smarter? By Lisa Bakshi
Alien Dog Attack #6
Big Bad Bud looks at me sideways (with his good eye, that is). I explain the danger we are in from the imminent attack of the planet by Alien Attack Dog (AAD) and the army of laser-beam-eye canines from outer space. I tell him of my plan to have him use his cat kill skills to take out the AAD. Again he looks at me (with his good eye, that is), jumps down off my lap and bounds into the garage. He returns to the back porch in several minutes carrying a note (don’t ask, it’s Bud). I unfold the note and read.
I will agree to help rid the humans of that dirty, uncouth, smelly dog, if and only if, the following conditions are met.
1. Cut out the Best Choice Cat Food and mix in some Little Friskies or some Meow Mix already.
2. A bird feeder in the yard, stocked daily with the finest wild bird seed and placed at a height of no more than 2.5 feet off the ground.
3. Squirrel feeders on every tree in the neighborhood.
Whoa, Bud! #1 is do-able. #2 a maybe, but 2.5 feet off the ground? Come on, Bud…at least give yourself a challenge. #3, what the heck, Bud?
As intimidating as the AAD is, I have to think on these. I can’t imagine the backlash from the animal kingdom if I agree to these terms. Oh, boy…
