Just like Prozac?
A previous study showed that the antidepressant fluoxetine (Prozac) also increases new cell growth, and the results indicated that it was this cell growth that caused Prozac's anti-anxiety effect. Zhang wondered whether this was also the case for the cannabinoid, and so he tested the rats for behavioural changes.
When the rats who had received the cannabinoid were placed under stress, they showed fewer signs of anxiety and depression than rats who had not had the treatment. When neurogenesis was halted in these rats using X-rays, this effect disappeared, indicating that the new cell growth might be responsible for the behavioural changes.
via Marijuana might cause new cell growth in the brain – health – 13 October 2005 – New Scientist.
Praise::Touring Gangland – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com
Touring Gangland
By FREAKONOMICS
A group of civic activists in Los Angeles plans to start giving “Gang Tours” — taking busloads of tourists through some of the most dangerous parts of the city — in hopes of “sensitizing people, connecting them to the reality of what’s on the ground.” Critics liken the tours to voyeuristic “slum tourism” in India and Rio de Janeiro. But Gang Tours organizers say they plan on using tour profits to help communities through avenues like loans for inner-city entrepreneurs and sending graffiti taggers to art school.
via Touring Gangland – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com.
We desensitize ourselves from the hard realities of our environment. This is an excellent idea. I’ve been saying that if we required all powerful people to ride in cars with windows down, we would probably have cleaner air. If we also require politicians and rich people’s children to go to public schools we would have a far better education system. There is a saying “out of sight , out of mind”; what we need is to make people who can create major change to feel the pain!
Praise::Antonio Oposa Jr – Environmental Lawyer and Activist | FreeMan | Bluepanjeet.Org
Who would ever thought that a Filipino could make a big difference in protecting the environment, especially in the field of law? Tony Oposa did, not only once but twice. First during his case which is popularly known as Minors Oposa vs. Factoran in which he sued the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and demanding the cancellation of all existing logging concessions and an injuction against new one. These logging concessions deforest what remains to be only 4% of virgin forests in the country. The second was his case against government agencies in cleaning up Manila Bay which after 10 years, was ruled by the Supreme Court in favor of Oposa’s cause. These two famous cases was a landmark victory in environmental law, testing the waters for future cases and paving the way for environmental law in becoming an established branch of the legal system.
via Antonio Oposa Jr – Environmental Lawyer and Activist | FreeMan | Bluepanjeet.Org.
Was able to catch his TEDxManila presentation. Inspiring! Intergenerational responsibility, truly an Idea worth spreading
ROTD: Do Men Hurt More?
Let’s consider these last two arguments. We all know that women tend to be more expressive about their complaints – you can’t beat ‘em for wailing and gnashing of teeth. But the fact that men act more stoic and complain less doesn’t mean they hurt less. To economists, the relevant standard is willingness to pay, and by this standard new results suggest men hurt more from most harms:
What’s a marriage worth? To an Aussie male, about $32,000. That’s the lump sum Professor Paul Frijters says the man would need to receive out of the blue to make him as happy as his marriage will over his lifetime. An Aussie woman would need much less, about $16,000. But when it comes to divorce, the Aussie male will be so devastated it would be as if he had lost $110,000. An Aussie woman would be less traumatised, feeling as if she had lost only $9000. … The lifetime boost to happiness that flows from a birth – for the mother around $8700, for the father $32,600. … The death of a spouse or child causes a woman $130,900 worth of grief. … It costs a man $627,300.
via Overcoming Bias : Do Men Hurt More?.
Very interesting, must delve into this paper soon.
rePost::Charter Cities: Property Reform in Peru
As formal property registration expanded through the late 1990s and the early 2000s, collateral-based lending increased. Newly formal property owners felt secure enough to make improvements to their property. With formal rights, people were free to pursue earnings opportunities away from their property without fear of losing it to another claimant. Panaritis also reports lower levels of child labor and higher levels of school enrollment among families with formal property rights compared to their informal counterparts.
The reforms made made property a tradable asset and gave Peruvians the freedom to use their property in ways that best served their interests. The reform effort was not a simple matter handing out titles under the existing system—it required the creation of a new system for registering property. To this end, the pilot program was key. It allowed reformers and property owners to try and revise the new system, the success of which engendered trust in the pilot participants and sparked enthusiasm for the reforms elsewhere in Peru.
via Charter Cities: Property Reform in Peru.
I’ve been thinking of creating a more personal blog, as long as I haven’t done anything about this plan there would be political stuff and views not related to Passion and Happiness in onthe8spot.com .
I am not anti-poor but squatting is government supported extortion. The whole apparatus smacks of people rent seeking, from the courts to the enforcement officials.
Cloud of Atlases by The Editors – The Morning News
Cloud of Atlases
Maps without legends may not be immediately informative, but determining what they represent is extremely fun. If you’re into that kind of thing, THE EDITORS have a game for you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack are the founding editors of The Morning News.
If you’ve ever picked up an old globe in a thrift store, you already know the sport of trying to determine its age based on where certain borders are demarcated and how territories are designated. And if testing your combined knowledge of history, culture, and cartography sounds like your kind of fun (it’s our kind of fun), you may enjoy what we’ve got in store.
We’ve removed the legends and all other telltale labels from the maps below, and challenge you to guess what each map depicts using only clues contained within the maps: the color-coding, names, landmarks, and whatever else you can detect. Here’s one clue to get you started: None of the maps represent gross national anything.
via Cloud of Atlases by The Editors – The Morning News.
This has been a huge time sink for today. Link surfing wikipedia has always been a weak point.
ROTD::Do Working Men Rebel? Insurgency and Unemployment
Do Working Men Rebel? Insurgency and Unemployment in Iraq and the Philippines
Most aid spending by governments seeking to rebuild social and political order is based on an opportunity-cost theory of distracting potential recruits. The logic is that gainfully employed young men are less likely to participate in political violence, implying a positive correlation between unemployment and violence in places with active insurgencies. We test that prediction on insurgencies in Iraq and the Philippines, using survey data on unemployment and two newly- available measures of insurgency: (1) attacks against government and allied forces; and (2) violence that kills civilians. Contrary to the opportunity-cost theory, we find a robust negative correlation between unemployment and attacks against government and allied forces and no significant relationship between unemployment and the rate of insurgent attacks that kill civilians. [Emphasis mine]
via Do Working Men Rebel? Insurgency and Unemployment.
This is discouraging. Please remember that GMA is still an economist and in some accounts a sharp person. Does this mean that keeping people in poverty a viable strategy in minimizing rebellion? It seems to be what the warlords and government are actually doing.
Sentences To Ponder: Some new happiness research
There is, I suspect, a common theme here – that people don’t predict what will make them happy at all well. Having children and investing in careers rather than in social networks doesn’t make us happy, and yet we do it in our 20s and 30s, only to be miserable later.
via Stumbling and Mumbling: Some new happiness research.
That was one loaded sentence. Thinking about my life, I am solidly in Team Social Network and Not the TEAM Children/Career that a lot of my generation are slowly (fast?) going into. I don’t know, maybe in our 40’s we would know.
PS 01: I’m not anti kids. Simply put I see myself as a big kidI sometimes can’t be trusted with myself, why the hell would I trust myself with the responsibility for another human being.
PS 02: I’m not strictly anti-career, It’s just that I believe that our society/backgrounds do not allow us the leeway to really find our passions. If we dive head on to our “careers” when will we ever find our passions. 2 things.
One, I’m lucky to have my mom and dad as my parents. This for me means that I have a personal responsibility to be the best that I can be, whatever that means.
Two, I saw a friend from high school/college in the elevator yesterday, we decided to catch up a little. During our conversation he told me something. He has found his passion, He said in a way Pisay and UP wasn’t such a good fit for him, what he wanted to do was for from what he learned from these great learning institutions. This is the third time (That I remember vividly but probably more than 10 or even more) that I have heard this from a friend from Philippine Science/University of the Philippines. In a way it made me happy. Not that my friends wasted a lot of their time, rather they do not see the other side of the coin, I prefer to think of their predicaments more in the light of; I am lucky to have found my passion, it is probably because of the different things that I went through in life, of which going to PSHS/UP was a part of.
Read the original post to get to the research to justify the claims.
Praise::Bata and Amit win World Mixed Doubles Classic
Congratulations to Bata and Amit for winning the World Mixed Doubles 9-7. You make your countrymen proud!
Advice::The Intrapreneur's Ten Commandments
pointer from ben casnoscha .
THE INTRAPRENEUR’S TEN COMMANDMENTS
1. Come to work each day willing to be fired.
2. Circumvent any orders aimed at stopping your dream.
3. Do any job needed to make your project work, regardless of your job description.
4. Find people to help you.
5. Follow your intuition about the people you choose, and work only with the best.
6. Work underground as long as you can -publicity triggers the corporate immune mechanism.
7. Never bet on a race unless you are running in it.
8. Remember it is easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission.
9. Be true to your goals, but be realistic about the ways to achieve them.
10. Honor your sponsors.
via The Intrapreneur’s Ten Commandments.
Loved this list, I have to say that I agree with most of the things written. I believe 4 is the hardest for me. As I have said in the past I can’t seem to find someone to mentor me.