Augustus Gloop

As we’ve all noticed or experienced in ourselves or those around us, memory loss worsens with our age. Age, however, is not the only cause: disease, such as alzheimers, injury, physical health, and emotional state are all part of memory loss.

Natural memory loss is preventable or treatable, however. Exercising regularly and eating healthy foods high in antioxidants and “good” fats help your body deliver oxygen and blood to your brain. Managing emotions and stress help with retaining memory; if you’re depressed, or in any other unstable emotional condition, you are less likely to focus on what is going on around you. A quirkier measure that you can take is known as “neurobic” exercises (aerobic exercise for your brain): do something you usually do, with a twist. Examples I’ve read include brushing your teeth or writing with the hand you don’t usually use, which challenge your brain to go out of the norm and access other circuits in your brain that are often neglected due to the routinal nature of our daily lives.

Follow the guidelines here to improve your memory with just a few steps and try some of the “neurobic” exercises given here. The professionals at the sites I’ve checked out all agree that memory retention is a “use it, or lose it” kind of a deal, continually practice and you’ll be glad you did (note: you will remember why you’re glad.. inside joke for those who are as lame as me).

According to an article posted at the BBC website, the high glycaemic index of bread, pastas and rice may put you at a higher risk for developing kidney cancer. As I understand it, the UK cancer research group took 767 diagnosed patients and paired them with two control patients. Over the course of two years, they monitored their eating and overall lifestyle. Those patients who ate more poultry and vegetables among other things had a decreased risk in developing cancer than those who ate starchier foods (breads and pastas).

The thing I was wondering was, “How do they know that those who ate more meat and vegetables have a less chance of developing some sort of cancer? It isn’t like the ones that ate more bread actually got cancer, they just appear to have a ‘modest rise in the risk.’” Better yet, the article ended with a spokesperson saying that, “the study involved patients remembering what they had eaten over two years which could have led to inaccuracies.” 

What I would like to ask this man is why his group would even publicize any of their research, only to conclude that it is inaccurate… and useless in my opinion. 

Ironically, I spotted an article saying a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition determined that eating whole-grain foods (like whole-grain bread) can actually reduce the risk of developing cancer. Now that’s a whole other slice of bread.. yea, lame joke.

Like it was said in this commercial, the Olympics are about coming together united to remember all those things that make us the same. Each country has something different to offer that we should appreciate, particularly if it is something unique to that country. This year the Olympics are being held in China, against the approval of many. With the event taking place in only a few days, there seems to be no point for all the whining and complaining. Honestly, if you’re against something like eating dog, don’t order it. The point of traveling is to experience a whole different lifestyle. If you expect China to change to suit your needs, why go? Just stay home.

Though the real issue at hand is that Westerners have a hard time thinking of what they consider a pet, to also be foo. They should consider the fact that someone, somewhere in the world may have a pet cow, lamb, pig, or chicken. My cousin actually had all of the mentioned animals as pets and ironically they all, uhh… ran away. Or at least that’s what my auntie keeps saying.

Continue reading

Music is the “go to” for all situations: parties and celebrations, weddings and funerals, when one needs time to wind down or just the opposite, and now blogs. This is actually the second blog i’ve done on this subject because the first one was too difficult to execute at any level. Originally titled “Music, A History,” I tried to find evidence stating that mainstream genres: pop, r&b, rock, and the like actually stem from classical work, but it was as I said, an idea difficult to support.

So what now? For a few minutes I was lost, but then I thought of all the stereotypes that people give to those who enjoy rap, or classical, or even techno. The lightbulb went off and I was determined to find evidence that supported there wasn’t a correlation between what we listen to and our personalities, but I found just the opposite.

According to a study by Samuel Gosling and Jason Rentfrow at the University of Texas, music can be divided into four categories:

• Reflective and Complex
• intense and Rebellious (aka Edgy and Aggressive)
• Upbeat and Conventional (aka Fun and Simple)
• Energetic and Rhythmic (aka Energetic and Upbeat)   

You can skim through the entire published work here or you can read the highlights (as I did) here.

According to the music and personality quiz I took here, I enjoy mostly energetic music. While most of the characterstics corresponding to my individual choices were “spot on” some of the information was contradicting. For instance, I scored low in the rebellious category indicating that I am conventional, but scored moderately on the energetic category which dictates that I am unconventional.

Although the results of the quiz were unclear, I am now convinced after all of this that the connection between music and personality is real, as much as I hate to admit it.

If you’re interested in my results you can check them out here.  

First of all, I bet you’re wondering what compelled me to write a blog simply titled as “dreams.” Well, there is a simple answer. For a few nights for the past few weeks, I’ve been having the craziest of dreams and I’ve come to wonder what is the meaning of all this. And thus the pointless quest began.

The first stop, of course, was Google. I searched “dreams” and found a number of sites dedicated to dream analysis and interpretation. However, that wasn’t quite what I was looking for because I already know what my dreams are telling me [to do]. According to the article, “Dream,” on Wikipedia:

They (dreams) have been described physiologically as a response to neural processes during sleep, psychologically as reflections of the subconcious, and spiritually as messages from God or predictions of the future.

I don’t know if my dreams consisting of aimless quests for novels with weird titles [i.e. The Hotel Rapist (I don't know if such a book exists)], fellow English class peers, and random men asking, “Have you done your blob yet?” can be explained scientifically or spiritually, but they are definitely a direct message from someone telling me to make up all the undone blogs.  

A plus about Wikipedia is all the links to related articles, clicking one I found this:

A painting (with an extremely long title), “Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening,” by Salvador Dali, which shares in the inconsistencies and craziness of some of my past dreams.