Posts Tagged ‘culture’
Techno Brows
Coffee and lowered risk for dementia
From a New York Times article today:
A team of Swedish and Danish researchers tracked coffee consumption in a group of 1,409 middle-age men and women for an average of 21 years. During that time, 61 participants developed dementia, 48 with Alzheimer’s disease.
After controlling for numerous socioeconomic and health factors, including high cholesterol and high blood pressure, the scientists found that the subjects who had reported drinking three to five cups of coffee daily were 65 percent less likely to have developed dementia, compared with those who drank two cups or less. People who drank more than five cups a day also were at reduced risk of dementia, the researchers said, but there were not enough people in this group to draw statistically significant conclusions.
The article goes on to observe that there may also be a correlation between coffee consumption and decreased risk of type 2 diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. All I know is that if this is true then my consumption of a pound and a half of coffee a week is all worth it.
Foucault and Punishment
In “Discipline and Punish” he writes:
It was as if the punishment was thought to equal, if not exceed, in savagery the crime itself, to accustom the spectators to a ferocity from which one wished to divert them, to show them the frequency of crime, to make the executioner resemble a criminal, judges murderers, to reverse roles at the last moment, to make the tortured criminal an object of pity or admiration.
Just found that interesting in light of all of these discussion concerning the closing of Guantanamo Bay and the United States’ role in extradition and torture.
The Photographing of President Bush
There’s a fascinating article up on one of The New York Times’ various blogs about the most iconic photographs from President Bush’s tenure in office. Errol Morris sits down with some of the traveling Associated Press photographers and discusses at great length some of their favourite photographs.
Quick Environment Links
TNR’s Environment and Energy blog has a list of links concerning some recent news about the environment. Check it out at the link below:
Quick Hits: So *That’s* Where The Trees Went Edition – Environment and Energy
