Showing posts with label old. Show all posts
Showing posts with label old. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Shop Frequently and Live Longer

More silly research comes to useful conclusions. A survey has found that older people, men and women who go shopping "frequently" live longer. This is true for Taiwanese anyway. Subject women were 28 per cent less likely to die in the 10 years after the study. Men were 27 per cent less likely. Apparently, going shopping once a week is absolutely no good whatsoever. One has to shop, shop, shop to have a positive outcome.

Researchers reached the following conclusion: "Shopping captures several dimensions of personal wellbeing, health and security as well as contributing to the community's cohesiveness and economy, and may represent or actually confer increased longevity." This conclusion is not soundly based on the data, however. It is just drawn "out of the air". In other words it is just an opinion. Maybe shopping is an ideal way of getting regular exercise. Note, those who lived longer were healthier to begin with. And poor health meant less shopping, thus inadequate diet.

Another problem is the finding that companionship via shopping leads to better health. This has no foundation at all. Grumpy old men do have the adjective "old" clipped onto them.

It makes one wonder whether researchers have conclusions determined before they begin a study. It is worrying that longevity was tested for only 10 years after data was provided.
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Health

Shop Frequently and Live Longer

More silly research comes to useful conclusions. A survey has found that older people, men and women who go shopping "frequently" live longer. This is true for Taiwanese anyway. Subject women were 28 per cent less likely to die in the 10 years after the study. Men were 27 per cent less likely. Apparently, going shopping once a week is absolutely no good whatsoever. One has to shop, shop, shop to have a positive outcome.

Researchers reached the following conclusion: "Shopping captures several dimensions of personal wellbeing, health and security as well as contributing to the community's cohesiveness and economy, and may represent or actually confer increased longevity." This conclusion is not soundly based on the data, however. It is just drawn "out of the air". In other words it is just an opinion. Maybe shopping is an ideal way of getting regular exercise. Note, those who lived longer were healthier to begin with. And poor health meant less shopping, thus inadequate diet.

Another problem is the finding that companionship via shopping leads to better health. This has no foundation at all. Grumpy old men do have the adjective "old" clipped onto them.

It makes one wonder whether researchers have conclusions determined before they begin a study. It is worrying that longevity was tested for only 10 years after data was provided.
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Health

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Old Cars Are Healthier

It makes one wonder how much money is wasted on research into seemingly trivial and irrelevant issues. Nonetheless, some of this research does result in useful findings. Why would there be tests on old cars to find out whether they are healthier than new vehicles? Well, research has been done and older cars are healthier largely because they let more air in through seals that do not fit anymore.

Most drivers and passengers jump into the modern vehicle and turn the air conditioning on, thus locking themselves into a sealed capsule. This may be comfortable but it can cause illness. To make the air conditioner function better it is common to choose the recycle setting, so we breath stale air. This is more damaging than taking in pollutants from outside.

When you go for a drive in future you should be careful about who you are travelling with. If a passenger has the flu, everyone else will probably get it. Set the air conditioner to the ventilation setting or leave a window slightly open.
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Motoring

Old Cars Are Healthier

It makes one wonder how much money is wasted on research into seemingly trivial and irrelevant issues. Nonetheless, some of this research does result in useful findings. Why would there be tests on old cars to find out whether they are healthier than new vehicles? Well, research has been done and older cars are healthier largely because they let more air in through seals that do not fit anymore.

Most drivers and passengers jump into the modern vehicle and turn the air conditioning on, thus locking themselves into a sealed capsule. This may be comfortable but it can cause illness. To make the air conditioner function better it is common to choose the recycle setting, so we breath stale air. This is more damaging than taking in pollutants from outside.

When you go for a drive in future you should be careful about who you are travelling with. If a passenger has the flu, everyone else will probably get it. Set the air conditioner to the ventilation setting or leave a window slightly open.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Motoring

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Australpithecus sediba Is Not an Ancestor of Man

The Announcement that skeletons found in South Africa belong to a new species is premature.They were found in a cave near Johannesburg. The "new species" was named Australopithecus sediba. It was claimed to be the "rosetta stone" into the past. They were also the most complete skeletons ever discovered. The creatures walked upright, had long arms and powerful hands. Unfortunately, they were small brained.

Paleoanthropologists not involved in the find say the name chosen is just a "wastebasket" category. They are not ancestors of Man. Furthermore, some animals in the species could have had larger or smaller brains. It could still be transitional in evolution to Man, but very distant.

It may fit into Homo. Perhaps it is a sister species to Homo habilis. The brain size of Australopithecus sediba is the same as Homo floresiensis, the Hobbit, of Indonesia. The features in sediba are similar to those in other Homo species. Paleoanthropologists put very early finds in Homo. Sediba is not so unique as to have a lineage of its own. Indeed, Australopithecus africanus is older than sediba and africanus does have unique lineage. Sediba is too primitive to be a direct ancestor of Man. Older Homo species have features more like Man that sediba.
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Australpithecus sediba Is Not an Ancestor of Man

The Announcement that skeletons found in South Africa belong to a new species is premature.They were found in a cave near Johannesburg. The "new species" was named Australopithecus sediba. It was claimed to be the "rosetta stone" into the past. They were also the most complete skeletons ever discovered. The creatures walked upright, had long arms and powerful hands. Unfortunately, they were small brained.

Paleoanthropologists not involved in the find say the name chosen is just a "wastebasket" category. They are not ancestors of Man. Furthermore, some animals in the species could have had larger or smaller brains. It could still be transitional in evolution to Man, but very distant.

It may fit into Homo. Perhaps it is a sister species to Homo habilis. The brain size of Australopithecus sediba is the same as Homo floresiensis, the Hobbit, of Indonesia. The features in sediba are similar to those in other Homo species. Paleoanthropologists put very early finds in Homo. Sediba is not so unique as to have a lineage of its own. Indeed, Australopithecus africanus is older than sediba and africanus does have unique lineage. Sediba is too primitive to be a direct ancestor of Man. Older Homo species have features more like Man that sediba.
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