Running on a treadmill- not quite satisfying! More for exercise than for the joy of running.

Scientists put tiny glasses on praying mantis to test insect 3D vision - CBS News

Scientists put tiny glasses on praying mantis to test insect 3D vision - CBS News: "These might be the most stylish bugs around. Scientists made praying mantises wear tiny 3D glasses to test if the insects have strereopsis, or 3D vision. While these insects won't be watching the new "Star Wars" film in IMAX 3D anytime soon, proving that they do have 3D vision is significant because up until now, 3D vision had only been confirmed in vertebrates.

The research team from Newcastle University in the United Kingdom published their findings in the journal Scientific Results.

Back in 1980s, scientists previously used less sophisticated means to test for stereopsis in a praying mantis. They placed prisms of differing powers before the eyes of the insect, which caused the mantis to just miss out on striking an object set in front of it. This suggested that these creatures see the world similar to the way humans do, but was not necessarily a direct test for 3D vision."



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Cut Alcohol to Less Than One Drink a Day, Britons Are Warned - Bloomberg Business

Cut Alcohol to Less Than One Drink a Day, Britons Are Warned - Bloomberg Business: "Men and women should drink no more than six pints of beer or standard glasses of wine a week, according to new U.K. government guidelines that warn that any level of alcohol consumption raises the risk of cancer.
The new guidance, published in London on Friday, lowers the recommended maximum intake for men to 14 U.K. units of alcohol a week, the same as for women, from 21 units. A pint of beer with a 4 percent alcohol content or a medium-sized 175-milliliter glass of wine contains 2.3 units. People of both sexes are urged to have several alcohol-free days a week."



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Neanderthal Genes Gave Modern Humans An Immunity Boost, Allergies – Eurasia Review

Neanderthal Genes Gave Modern Humans An Immunity Boost, Allergies – Eurasia Review: "Neanderthal Genes Gave Modern Humans An Immunity Boost, Allergies"



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Soda Tax in Mexico Causes Serious Sales Dip in Sugary Drinks

Soda Tax in Mexico Causes Serious Sales Dip in Sugary Drinks: "Taxes on soda and other sugary drinks have not generally fared well. Several countries and American cities like Philadelphia and San Francisco have tried and failed, due in large part to lobbying, political contributions and protests by the soda industry. While health experts generally agree that Americans and people in many other countries consume too much sugar, much of it in the form of beverages like soft drinks, there has been little evidence to date proving that taxes on such products are effective in getting people to stop downing sugary drinks."



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Una Mullally: Embrace your Irishness and celebrate 1916

Una Mullally: Embrace your Irishness and celebrate 1916: " 
There are two types of people living in Ireland right now; those who are sick of 1916, and those who are sick of people who are sick of 1916. Get used to it, because that’s how the year is going to roll.
Pick your camp. Choose your team. This centenary is going to get divisive. Brothers will be pitted against brothers, mothers against daughters, fathers against sons. It reminds me of something… I can’t quite think of what, probably because according to the next year, Irish history begins, ends and is entirely made up of those six days in April nearly 100 years ago.
Me? I can’t get enough of 1916. For a nation of people who are constantly harping on (sorry) about national identity, we have a strange tendency to disconnect ourselves from it. Our language is ridiculed by many and bitched about as irrelevant, when it’s of essential importance. Our music falls victim to sideswipes about “diddley-eye”, even though traditional Irish music is probably the most famous world music there is."



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Five third-level colleges financially vulnerable

Five third-level colleges financially vulnerable: "At least five third-level institutions across Ireland are in financially vulnerable positions as they struggle to cope with cuts in State funding and rising student numbers.
They include four institutes of technology – Dundalk IT, Waterford IT, Letterkenny IT and Galway Mayo IT – as well as the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) in Dublin.
While none of the colleges is in imminent danger of collapse, the Higher Education Authority has confirmed it is reviewing their systems and performance to help restore them to financial stability."



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We have to stand up to litter louts. Fines won’t stop them | Alice Arnold | Opinion | The Guardian

We have to stand up to litter louts. Fines won’t stop them | Alice Arnold | Opinion | The Guardian: "It’s over three years ago that I threw a plastic bottle back through the car window whence it came. I thought little of it at the time until I tweeted about it and a small media storm erupted. Apparently, it was not normal to stand up to litter louts. Which is not to say that the issue is not important to people. It is clearly something many of us feel very strongly about. We just don’t take any action.

Now I hear that the Department for Communities and Local Government is planning to increase fines for dropping litter. The minimum fine is set to double to £100, with communities minister Marcus Jones claiming that those who drop litter would be “hit in the pocket”."



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China's Message to Its Professors: Get Back to the Classroom - Bloomberg Business

China's Message to Its Professors: Get Back to the Classroom - Bloomberg Business: "Hundreds of senior academics are quitting lucrative seats on the boards of Chinese companies, as a clampdown on top government officials holding paid corporate positions spreads into the education sector.
Until recently, university professors at state universities had thought themselves exempt from a 2013 ban on high-level government officials and Communist Party members holding corporate jobs, a restriction installed as part of the nation’s anti-corruption drive. That changed in November, when the education ministry threatened disciplinary action against higher-ranked academics who fail to register their corporate assignments."



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Business jargon dictionary: Guffpedia

Business jargon dictionary: Guffpedia: "Lucy Kellaway’s dictionary of business jargon and corporate nonsense"



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The lonely thoughts of a long distance runner

http://www.newyorker.com/news/sporting-scene/what-we-think-about-when-we-run

After three decades of distance running I have realized that I run, mostly in pain, just to experience the handful of occasions when the body seems to be powered by jet engines and does not feel any resistance and the running feels effortless. It is pure bliss, and on those occasions the mind can be free of thoughts. Most of my distance runs involve feelings of pain. I don't run with headphones or mobile devices. At the beginning of my run I usually play music inside my head (songs like Morning has Broken or These are days you remember, music I grew up with). I let my imagination run with me and do role play- during today's run I imagined that I was the captain of an All Blacks team that had just lost a game, and I had to address my teammates. As a distance runner I use my imagination to power me through my pain. Distance running also provides many interactive experiences for a runner- I remember one particular training run where a female runner just blew past me. Being a good runner, my ego hurt far more than my body and I ran as hard as I could to catch her, but I could only see her face before I collapsed and fell down while she continued running. A few days later I saw her face on the cover of a sports magazine- she was in the U.S. Olympic Marathon team.

I liked Ms. Schulz's coverage of the topic, from fiction to non fiction, from Alan Sillitoe to Gardner. It should be added that Tom Courtenay and Michael Redgrave brought "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" to life on the silver screen.

Why do we run?

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/the-running-blog/2015/jun/18/five-novels-every-runner-should-read

Why do we run? In his book on the subject, Mark Rowlands complains that most books about running reframe this question in terms of what use it has. We run because it keeps us healthy, reduces stress or brings us joy. We run for the satisfaction of a personal best or for the thrill of the race. We run to meet new people, to be part of a team or to impress the opposite sex. All of us will at some point have explained our pastime in such terms. But Rowlands argues that running, at its best, is valuable for what it is in itself, not for what it gives us. In other words, we run just because. And this is an idea that comes naturally to the novelist.

When the reform-school boy in Alan Sillitoe’s The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner throws away a race against a rival school, he does so not only to deny glory to the institution he detests, but because to win – even to finish – would be to undermine what he’s come to learn is the true value of running. “You had to run, run, run, without knowing why you were running,” he says. “This feeling was the only honesty and realness there was in the world.” For once, he’s doing something that is not done for the sake of something or someone else.

The following five novels are recommended as portraits of a runner’s life, as well as for being forceful reminders that running, at its best, is something we do for its own sake.