Maynard S. Clark

Fall 2024 Meeting of the Board on Life Sciences - Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 13:44:00 -0400

Fall 2024 Meeting of the Board on Life Sciences - Day 2

Fall 2024 Meeting of the Board on Life Sciences - Day 2

I've had Solar for 10 Years... Was it Worth it?

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 21:37:00 -0500

#solarpanels #newenergysystem #10years

I've had Solar for 10 Years... Was it Worth it?

1,093,951 views

- July 1, 2021

Morning Musical Inspiration: Frog Series #2 with Will & Madeleine

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 21:04:00 -0400

Greetings from Boston

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 05:00:00 -0400

I am testing a new blog writing software.

The Benefits of a Whole Food Plant Based Diet and The Consequences of Un...

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Mon, 20 May 2019 16:01:00 -0400

Steve Fine Talks Distributed Energy Resources | ICF

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Tue, 9 Apr 2019 17:32:00 -0400

Ancient Jewish Settlement Remains Found in Beersheba

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Sat, 6 Apr 2019 00:19:00 -0400

Ancient Jewish Settlement Remains Found in Beersheba

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Sat, 6 Apr 2019 00:19:00 -0400

Cancer Metabolism: From molecules to medicine

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 18:07:00 -0400

7 Days Documentary | Fast Food to Vegan

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Thu, 21 Feb 2019 15:48:00 -0500

Food service vs. how humans at large are actually eating

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Mon, 4 Feb 2019 15:07:00 -0500

Is there a way to get a STRATEGIC sense of the PROPORTION of conventional restaurant CHAINS where vegetarian and vegan entrees are featured as vegan or vegetarian? What that MEANS is that we would be looking AT what certain TYPES of business are doing, and they want to keep their businesses viable (not merely respond to 'pressure'). But how are those 'service changes' working out for their businesses and how were those service enhancements designed and implemented?

That is only ONE possible measure, and IMO it does NOT address the general population - only how businesses make business OUT of paying portions of that general population. It's significant, but in itself it's not determinative.

That could be INDEXED against the growing proportion of the general human population in each nation who claim to be (i) vegan and/or (ii) vegetarian.

I wonder whether or not some 'vegan strategic planners' could think how far along we are in accomplishing the historic shift away from reliance upon animal exploitation for food and toward evidence-based health-supporting whole foods plant-based diets for the general population.

Episode 6: Beating Your Genes

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Mon, 5 Mar 2018 20:10:00 -0500

Walk or webinar??

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Tue, 27 Feb 2018 12:49:00 -0500

To walk or enjoy a webinar on walkable streets - a dilemma posed by the inherent thinkability of built environments in which smart AND intellectualizing humans live.

Future Digitalization

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 10:23:00 -0500

Our digital future is not carved in stone. There may be some moving parts, at least in a subtle sense.

Future Digitalization

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 10:09:00 -0500

Our digital future is not carved in stone. There may be some moving parts, at least in a subtle sense.

Today's Haymarket Haul - 06/10/2017

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 18:46:00 -0400

Today's Haymarket Haul - 06/10/2017

2 extra jumbo cantaloupes - $1.00

5 extra large Portabello mushrooms - $1.00

6 lbs Rosebud carrots - $1.00

9 Anjou pears - $1.00

9 Bosc pears - $1.00

9 yellow bananas - $1.00

14 yellow summer squash - $1.00

21 luscious limes - $1.00

Total cost: $8.00 US

Total poundage: about 45 lbs of edible vegetables and fruits

More enjoyable, I saw and interacted with some of the vendors I really, really like!

Academia Profile

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Tue, 7 Mar 2017 11:40:00 -0500

BIOGRAPHY

Several American communities have made it illegal to smoke anywhere in multi-unit buildings (apartments, condominiums, cooperatives) because of the risks to residents from inhaling secondhand smoke that seeps into nonsmokers' units or is wafted through ventilation systems.

Housing industry background analysis evaluates issues and resources for implementing smoke-free policies in a private, cooperatively-owned residential high-rise building – but in ways so that no one will be hurt in the process. This research is to inform both decisionmakers and implementation by identifying successful implementation elsewhere of 100% nonsmoking policies in large multiunit dwellings and local and other resources supporting these specific changes, and their background in policy development and implementation in Boston. Optimally, implementation will be a ‘happy process’ respecting all long-term real interests; an optimal/optimizing outcome would see all current residents who smoke save money and their health by quitting smoking and everyone becoming happy together.

A March election could bring Board membership changes in governance. Research collaborates with current and future Board officers and reports to the “new Board” ( perhaps in March) on management information relevant to Charlesbank’s specific situation, including (1) resources for ongoing implementation support and (2) cost savings and other income impacts resulting from implementation.

Parties who could affect or be affected by these actions (“stakeholders”) include the Charlesbank residents (tenants are: “shareholders” can vote and, at present, and those termed “residents” cannot vote) and their elected Board, the contracted management company and its staffmembers (who are responsible for implementing policies, as directed by the Board), workplaces of residents where impacts of living conditions are unrecognized but not unfelt, and property insurers and public agencies with interests in building security and safety and tenant health and comfort.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Mental processes, Comparative psychology, Comparative Religion, Professional Ethics, Anthropology, Animal Cognition, +113

AFFILIATIONS

Emmanuel College, Boston, Research Administration, Graduate Student

Chb, Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, Consultant

Harvard University, School of Public Health, Department Member

Children's Hospital Boston, Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, Department Member

Harvard Medical School, Global Health and Social Medicine, Department Member

Tufts University, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Past Department Member

Harvard Medical School, Developmental Medicine/Children's Hospital Boston, Department Member

Harvard Medical School, Communications and External Relations, Past Department Member

Harvard Medical School, Program in Medical Education, Past Department Member

Boston University, Economics, Past Department Member

Harvard School of Public Health, Health Policy and Management, Past Department Member

Wheaton College, Philosophy, Department Member

Harvard School of Public Health, Global Health and Population, Department Member

The Nativity's Hope for All Creatures

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Wed, 7 Dec 2016 10:44:00 -0500

The Nativity's Hope for All Creatures

What makes the festive season so special is that sense of hope and expectation leading up to Christmas Day. Hope is a powerful emotion and few sights are able to inspire more hope than that of a new life entering the world.

Perhaps that is why the nativity scene is so timeless in its ability to evoke anticipation, optimism and promise. It was in fact St. Francis of Assisi who was credited with creating the first nativity display in 1223, turning the Biblical narrative into a living, breathing, noisy, smelly tableau that brought a once elusive retelling into vivid experience for the eyes.

Visibly today, from children’s school plays to Christmas cards, Church posters to product advertisements, this scene of the infant Christ in a manger surrounded by highly inquisitive farmyard animals is a firm part of our traditional Christmas celebrations.

Christmas underscores the emotive power of the amazing animals with which we share our world. A nativity image, no matter how sentimentally portrayed, reminds us of the beauty and innocence of these endlessly mysterious and familiar beings who live complex lives beyond our control or comprehension.

The birth of Christ is a prime opportunity to remember that Christmas is not just about humanity. Rather the arrival of the infant Christ promises cosmic, restorative consequences for the whole of creation.

The hope of the nativity challenges us to look beyond the darker side of our use and abuse of animals to a manger scene which compels us to live out the love, mercy, and compassion of Christ in the here and now.

And don't forget to eat your fiber, which only comes from plants.

Vegetarianism and the Salvation Army

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Sat, 4 Apr 2015 22:22:00 -0400

April 10th is considered Salvation Army "Founders' Day" - though sometimes July 1865 is considered the date of the founding of the Salvation Army.

"William Booth, born April 10, 1829, was a British Methodist preacher who founded The Salvation Army and became its first General (1878-1912)."

https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/618-analysis-of-the-salvation-army-an
http://www.amazon.com/Catherine-Booth-Biography-Cofounder-Salvation/dp/080105706X *
Vegetarian America: A History by Karen Iacobbo - page 133
http://www.victorianweb.org/religion/sa3.html ** from Boston, LINCOLNSHIRE, in England
http://www.curezone.org/forums/fm.asp?i=943526 ***
"Founders of Salvation Army were vegetarian, and wrote about why they thought Christians should emulate Jesus in nonviolent diet" ****
http://www.biographyonline.net/people/famous/vegetarians.html *****
http://thesalvationarmynova.blogspot.com/2015/02/salvation-army-founders-advocated.html ******
http://salvarmy.blogspot.com/ - Repeats what has already been posted (above) and may be the INTERMEDIATE source FOR the posting above
http://www.all-creatures.org/cva/famousveg.htm (the CVA page) *******
http://www.ivu.org/history/europe20a/william-booth.html (IVU page on religion and vegetarianism) ********
http://www.salvationarmyexpectchange.org/2015/01/23/salvation-army-founders-advocated-vegetarian-lifestyle/ (web author Kathy Lovin FROM the SA seems "convicted" about vegetarian diet and THE LOGICAL AND MORAL GROUNDS Booth's advocacy of vegetarianism - by her apologizing for her not strictly adhering to it) *********
http://salvationarmyusa.org/usn/history-of-the-salvation-army
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Salvation_Army
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/salvation-army-founded
http://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/history
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Great%20Men%20of%20God/general_william_booth.htm
http://www.victorianweb.org/religion/sa1.html
https://www.christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/issue/william-and-catherine-booth-salvation-army-founders/
http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1863162,00.html
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Salvation+Army+Founder's+Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqISi0k-85I
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/salvationarmy_1.shtml
https://archive.org/details/SchoolOfPrayer-FoundingOfTheSalvationArmy-WilliamBooth
http://learningtogive.org/papers/paper158.html

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

*Catherine Booth Was A Humane Saint !

By Brien Comerford on April 12, 2006 (Brien Comerford was from Boston)

Format: Paperback

Until I read this wondrous book, I had no idea that Catherine Booth, the conservative Co-Founder of the Slavation Army, embraced women's rights, animal rights and vegetarianism. The author provides many documented instances when Catherine would intervene and stop people from being cruel to dogs, horses, donkeys and oxen. He also mentions the Booth's and their Children loving an array of pets. I always knew that Catherine Booth was a groundbreaking Christian and Humanitarian, but Roger Green surprisingly informed me about Catherine Booth being an animal-loving vegetarian. Too bad today's Christian leaders have failed to emulate her reverence for all God's creatures' creed !

** Catherine Booth, known as the Mother of the Salvation Army, was one of the most extraordinary women of the Victorian era. She had firm convictions on a broad range of issues, such as social work among the poor and destitute, abstinence from alcohol, the legal age of consent for girls, vegetarianism, and the humane treatment of animals. She also held that women must have full equality with men in Christian ministry.

*** "General Booth treated alcoholism with vegetarian diet.. and found that this treatment severed the meat-alcohol chemical marriage. His success spread the Salvation Army around the world. )

**** GENERAL BRAMWELL BOOTH OF THE SALVATION ARMY ON VEGETARIAN DIET:

These passages are taken from a pamphlet written by General Bramwell Booth, former director General of the Salvation Army, and a son of founder General William Booth.

"Here are some of my reasons for doing so (becoming vegetarian):

1. Because I have myself tried a vegetarian diet with the greatest benefit having been for more than 10 years at l time a strict vegetarian.

2. Because according to the Bible God originally intended the food for humans to be vegetarian. (here he quotes Genesis 1:29 "Behold I have given

you herb yielding seed. To you it shall be for food.")

3. Because a vegetarian diet is favourable to purity, to chastity,and to

perfect control of the appetites and passions which are often a source of great temptation, especially to the young. (http://www.notmilk.com)

4. Because a vegetarian diet is favourable to robust health and strength. With very few exceptions, and these only confirmed invalids, I believe the people would be stronger....

5. Because tens of thousands of our poor people (could save money)...http://www.ivu.org

6. Because a vegetarian diet of wheat, oatmeal and other grains, lentils, peas, beans, nuts and similr food is more than ten times as economical as a flesh diet. Meat contains half its weight in water which has to be paid for as though it were meat. A vegetarian diet, even if we allow cheese, butter and milk will only cost about a quarter as much as a mixed diet of flesh and vegetables.

7. Because a vegetarian diet would stop the enormous waste of all kinds of animal food.

8. Because a vegetarian diet is a great protection against our drinking

(this belief of General Booth has been upheld by modern biochemistry research about the relationship of meat and alcohol)....

9. Because a vegetarian diet is favorable to industry and hard work...

10. Because it is proved that life, health, and happiness are all favoroued by a vegetarian diet.**

11. I favour a vegetarian diet because the digestive organs of humans are not well adapted to the use of flesh....

12. Because it is very difficult.. especially in hot weather and warm

climates to keep flesh food sweet long enough to cool and eat it and

a great deal of meat is eaten after it has begun to decay...

13. Because a great deal of the flesh meat which is supplied for human food is already diseased, and because it is nearly impossible to be sure than any flesh is quite free from the germs of disease. Much

common meat, which is often that of old animals, is well known to be sold to the butchers because the animals are sick, or unhealthy.

And the best meat is nearly always the flesh meat of young animals who are fattened and killed before the germs of many diseases have had time to develop so as to show themselves. So that many animals re killed, which though believed to be healthy, are really diseased.

This is especially the case with calves for veal, young bullocks for beef and with lambs and young pigs.

14. Because I believe that the great increase in consumption and cancer during the last hundred years has been caused by the great increase in the use of animal food, and that a strict vegetarian

diet would greatly help to ward off these most terrible and 'incurable' diseases.

15. Because I believe that a flesh diet brings on many very painful diseases, which though not perhaps immediately dangerous to life cause much suffering and loss. I mean such complaints as eczema, constipation, piles, worms, dysentery, severe heaches and the like. A vegetarian would do much to relieve if not cure them.

16 Because of the awful cruelty and terror to which tens of thousands (now billions)of animals killed for human food are subjected in

traveling long distance by ship and rail and road to the slaughterhouses of the world. God disapproves of all cruelty whether to man or beast.

17.Because of the terrible cruelties practised for killing animals in many slaughter houses. The whole busines of killing is cruel.. even when it is done with care, and we know that in the case of millions of creatures it is done with very little care. Ten thousand pigs are

killed for food every hour in Europe alone. (Now Oscar Mayer kills 1100 pigs an hour at their Madison Wisconsin plant.)

18. Because the occupation of slaughtering animals is brutalising to those who are required to do the work. "The highest sentiments of humane

men" says a certain writer, and I agree with him, "revolt at the cruelty, the degrading sights, the distressing cries, the perpetual

bloodshed, and all the attendant horrors which must surround the transit and slaughter of suffering creatures." *

19. Because a flesh diet is not necessary to hard work. A great part of the work of the world is done by animals which subsist on vegetable food..

namely, horses, mules, camels, oxen, etc.

I believe this matter is well worthy the serious consideration of Christian leaders. It has an important bearing not only on their own

health and happiness but upon their influence among the people, as men and women who are free from the bondage of that selfish gratification which so often afflicts the professed servants of Christ. Let us remember the Apostle's direction: 'Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.' "

(published by the LVS 53 Marloes Rd. Kensington London UK W8)

(We copied from an old pamphlet.. to have the full text, write or webvisit the London Vegetarian Society)

*****

John Wesley (1703-1791) – Great preacher and founder of Methodism. Wesley advocated a plant based diet, for health reasons.

William Booth (1829 – 1912) – founder of Salvation Army. William Booth became a vegetarian and credited his diet with giving him the strength for a vigorous lifestyle and founding the Salvation Army.

******

Salvation Army Founders Advocated A Vegetarian Lifestyle

January is the time of year when many of us take stock of our habits and resolve to do better. Topping the list – as mentioned in my previous post – are health and fitness habits.

If you’re looking for some inspiration to make healthy change this year, look no further than The Salvation Army’s founders William and Catherine Booth and their family.

William Booth was born in 1829 and with his wife Catherine founded what would become The Salvation Army in the late 1850s. The Booths came from the Methodist tradition and – like many from their denomination – followed the vegetarian practices of John Wesley even though doing so was difficult in Victorian England.

Catherine was partial to vegetarianism and is credited with encouraging her husband to adopt the lifestyle too.

In fact, William Booth responded to a news reporter inquiry in 1909 that he believed his vegetable-based diet was key to helping him maintain his rigorous travel and speaking schedule into his 80s.

The Booth’s children were also active in the ministry of The Salvation Army and carried on the family’s commitment to vegetarianism. Especially Bramwell Booth who succeeded his father as General of The Salvation Army.

Read the full article here.

*******
William and Catherine Booth. Founders of the Salvation Army."It is a great delusion to suppose that flesh-meat of any kind is essential to health. Considerably more than three parts of the work in the world is done by men who never taste anything but vegetable, farinaceous food, and that of the simplest kind. There are more strength-producing properties in wholemeal flour, peas, beans, lentils, oatmeal, roots, and other vegetables of the same class, than there are beef or mutton, poultry or fish, or animal food of any description whatever."
(Orders and Regulations of the Officers of the Salvation Army)

********
Europe: early 20th Century
General William Booth (1829-1912)
Founder and first General of the Salvation Army.

From the Vegetarian Messenger (VSUK magazine):

May 1908:General Booth on Diet - The Daily News says :- "Before leaving Norwich to-day General Booth, during an interview with a press representative, was questioned as to his diet. The General said he could still enjoy a potato with a little butter and salt; but the human race had run wild with their eating. Instead of bringing their appetites down to their food they brought their food up to their appetites."

February 1909
General Booth. - one of the Dresden journalists had an interview with General Booth during his visit in the neighbourhood , and gave his report in the Dresden Auseiger . In answer the question how he managed to sustain so much hard work, and particularly so much public speaking at night, at his advanced age, the General replied :- "I owe it to my careful vegetarian diet."

March 1909
Self denial week in the Salvation Army - At the request of Colonel Moss, of the Salvation Army, the Secretary of the Vegetarian Society has supplied a quantity of directions of inexpensive cooked and uncooked diets, with a number of recipes. They are to be published in the Salvation Army journals.

*********

January 23, 2015

SALVATION ARMY FOUNDERS ADVOCATED A VEGETARIAN LIFESTYLE

January is the time of year when many of us take stock of our habits and resolve to do better. Topping the list – as mentioned in my previous post – are health and fitness habits.

If you’re looking for some inspiration to make healthy change this year, look no further than The Salvation Army’s founders William and Catherine Booth and their family.

William Booth was born in 1829 and with his wife Catherine founded what would become The Salvation Army in the late 1850s. The Booths came from the Methodist tradition and – like many from their denomination – followed the vegetarian practices of John Wesley even though doing so was difficult in Victorian England.

Catherine was partial to vegetarianism and is credited with encouraging her husband to adopt the lifestyle too.

In fact, William Booth responded to a news reporter inquiry in 1909 that he believed his vegetable-based diet was key to helping him maintain his rigorous travel and speaking schedule into his 80s.

The Booth’s children were also active in the ministry of The Salvation Army and carried on the family’s commitment to vegetarianism. Especially Bramwell Booth, who succeeded his father as General of The Salvation Army.

In 1890 Bramwell was asked to explain his beliefs in the merits of vegetarianism.
Here’s a link to the full document, but I’ve excerpted some of his thoughts below.

:: Because a vegetable-based diet is more economical to a flesh-based diet and thus more affordable for people living in poverty.
:: Because the rise in diseases like cancer seems to coincide with the increase in the consumption of meat.
:: Because “God disapproves of all cruelty – whether to man or beast.”
:: Because a flesh-based diet is not necessary to hard work.

1 Corinthians 10:31 – “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

NOTE: "vegetable-based" diet is NOT "junk-food vegetarian" or "junk food vegan" and it's RESPECTFUL of the human body as God's "temple"!

Maynard

Eat Your Fiber

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 20:03:00 -0400

Eating your daily supply of fiber will keep the intestine and colon running healthy, helping to prevent colon cancer and various intestinal diseases.

Bird Conservation Group Wants Tighter Controls on Wind Industry - Blades run afowl of the MBTA

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 21:26:00 -0500

Bird Conservation Group Wants Tighter Controls on Wind Industry | Wind | Rewire | KCET

The SOLUTION - the ENGINEERING SOLUTION - is to SHIFT THE PLANE from rotating the blades in the VERTICAL plane to rotating the blades in the HORIZONTAL plane.

Let's THANK animal (bird) advocates for raising this issue, but let's insist that future design integrate this concern from the outset.

Lots of blade building has already gone ahead, production machinery has been purchased, and workers have been hired and put on the assembly lines.

I raised this concern nearly a decade ago - and suggested this solution about 3-4 years ago.

Advocates didn't see that as an issue at that time (or some merely said, yes, the blades shouldn't hurt the birds).

So let's "do the math" and consider that, if the IDEA of the SOLUTIONS pre-existed my SEEING the SOLUTION and RAISING the SOLUTION 3-4 years ago, the "solutions" may have pre-existed actuality in the minds of engineering visionaries. So when we REQUIRE investment in something that the planet and this species needs (birds would rather adjust to global warming and let the infrastructures of human "civilization" decline or erode at the coastal edges), we need, increasingly, to look at the full picture and to engineer ONLY solutions which do NOT solve OUR problems at the expense of other persons (other species of life).

News and analysis about energy in California with an eye toward renewables.

[=]

Calling bird law violations inevitable at wind facilities, a group wants tighter controls on permitting. | Photo: Changhua Coast Conservation Action/Flickr/Creative Commons License

WIND

Bird Conservation Group Wants Tighter Controls on Wind Industry

by Chris Clarke

February 24, 2015 2:45 PM

A national bird protection group is calling on the federal government to require wind energy operators to get permits to kill birds that are protected under one of the nation's oldest environmental laws.

The Washington, D.C.-based American Bird Conservancy, which projects more than 1.4 million annual bird deaths in coming years from wind turbines and their associated transmission lines, petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this month to require owners of wind power facilities to apply for permits under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 before being allowed to build their projects.

USFWS has been asking wind companies to follow voluntary bird-protection guidelines when siting and designing their projects, but American Bird Conservancy claims in its petition that the voluntary approach has been roundly ineffective at protecting birds from wind turbines.

The petition, filed earlier this month with the U.S. Department of the Interior, is actually a follow-up to an earlier attempt by the group to compel USFWS to crack down on wind industry violations of the law. This month's petition was sent to provide new information on the scope of the threat wind turbines pose to birds.

As part of that update, the group summarized a December 2014 study, commissioned by the group and conducted by researchers at Mississippi State University, that indicates USFWS' voluntary compliance policy has failed to prevent wind turbines from being built in extremely sensitive bird areas:

Nearly 30,000 wind turbines have already been installed within areas identified as being of high importance to federally-protected birds in the United States, with more than 50,000 additional turbines planned for construction in similar areas. These include more than 18,000 in the migration corridor of the whooping crane -- one of the nation's rarest and most spectacular birds, 1,800 in greater sage-grouse breeding strongholds, and nearly 1,400 in locations deemed to be of the most critical importance to conserving the nation's birdlife. This clearly indicates that the voluntary guidelines are not working to protect our public trust resources, especially since proper siting is probably the best and most effective form of mitigation.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) makes it illegal to kill or harm any of the 800-odd species of bird specifically listed under the law without a permit. Penalties for a single offense -- injury to a single bird -- range up to $200,000 in fines and a year's imprisonment.

As Rewire reported two years ago, USFWS has been highly reluctant to enforce the law against operators of wind turbines.

"In effect, the MBTA is not being enforced, except perhaps under very special circumstances," said Michael Hutchins of the American Bird Conservancy's Bird Smart Wind Energy Campaign. "This reality is particularly significant for the wind industry because wind energy projects will inevitably take birds protected under the MBTA. In fact, because it is virtually impossible to operate a wind energy facility without killing or injuring at least some migratory birds, most operational wind energy projects are in ongoing violation of the MBTA, and are effectively breaking the law with impunity."

25 years younger ???

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Sat, 6 Sep 2014 13:30:00 -0400

Today I was told that I "look 25 years younger than the calendar says and still have boundless energy."

Well, I do typically get my age estimated to be 12-15 years younger than my age, but not 25. That wasn't (and isn't) always the case. Staring at a computer, getting inadequate sleep, and drinking tea or coffee can depress the muscles in the eyes and face. But I think that proper nourishment is important, and merely eating vegan-compliant diets may not do that. Avoiding the animal-based inputs is important, but ensuring the plant-based inputs is just as important for health.

In the dispute between John McDougall* (vegan diet except for holidays), and Joel Fuhrman (vegan nutritarian all the time)

(but tolerant of others because they publicly say that their principles apply to everyone, but that meat eaters should not eat much meat or dairy - and McDougall tells them to swear off the dairy first - Fuhrman says that dairy is entirely unnecessary - and shows them how to nourish themselves),

the Fuhrman "nutritarian" emphasis is on the nutrient-rich diet and fat-burning (which I strongly advocate - selecting foods for nutrient value, not for taste or satiety. I think that satiety and satisfaction follow from getting the nutrients in one's daily diet (one MUST exercise** IN ORDER TO build muscle and burn fat - Fuhrman photos show that, despite his foot injury, he hasn't stopped exercising after he left competitive figure skating);
the McDougall "starchitarian" emphasis seems to be on a "starchitarian" weight loss by "no added fat" - and that means no nuts or oils.

*One of my long-time vegan friends in Boston has FLIPPED his loyalties from the vegan diet of Dr. Joel Fuhrman ("His diet is a good diet") to the vegan diet of Dr. John McDougall on the basis of the emphasis non weight loss (we all have problems with piling on extra weight; Steve lost "mucho" weight when he stopped eating a handful of nuts each day)
** All right - so, to START exercising, one walks around as much as possible; gently move and exercise each of the joints (yoga has ways to do this); in bed before rising, something called "a crunch" is stretching your chest UP toward your abdomen as much as possible - about 8-10 times - that's a set of 'reps' or 'repetitions' - and the goal is to build the muscles one has by exercising each muscle group, including the muscles in the abdomen. On can also stand up and rotate around the waste, then slowly bend forward, back, sideways, and stretch up and down until one aches.

Everyone can do crunches each day.

The nuance seems to be on the definitions of a 'starch' and a 'carb' or carbohydrate (few of us have the sophistication, but we ought to understand the differences between starches and sugars - particularly simple sugars. A starch is a carbohydrate; fiber is a carbohydrate.

From Wikipedia:

In food science and in many informal contexts, the term carbohydrate often means any food that is particularly rich in the complex carbohydrate starch (such as cereals, bread, and pasta) or simple carbohydrates, such as sugar (found in candy, jams, and desserts).

McDougall likes COMPLEX carbohydrates but not simple carbohydrates; Fuhrman likes the carbohydrates bound in vegetables, beans, and whole fruits, but not those carbs that are ground up into grains and then made into breads. However, what about whole grain cereals (oatmeal, not instant oatmeal)?

As I seem to recall it, McDougall was trying to help us understand how we would educate all of South and Central American about plant-based vegan diets. No one wanted to do that EXCEPT for Victor Forsythe, who inherited the California Vegetarian Association from Blanche Leonardo, then moved to Colorado and joined the Colorado Green Party. South American root vegetables are SUFFICIENTLY rich in proteins to provide all the human requirements for protein, according to the WHO. Therefore, one could live entirely on tubers and root vegetables grown in the South American mountains without supplementing with nuts, beans, or soy. "Protein is not an issue" in a plant-based whole foods diet based on real foods, not prepared and packaged foods. The indigenous diet is sufficient; in America, the (SAD/MAD) diet isn't mainly whole foods. When I talk with inquirers, I tell them that many Americans like to "eat out" - eat out of a package, out of a drive-in-window, eat out of a tragically conceived restaurant menu, etc.
Fuhrman began as 'a natural hygienist' an told me in person, when we flew together in mid-August 1995 from the 8th International Vegan Festival in San Diego to Boston, that he was 'more vegan' than hygienist - then he said, 'just vegan' with an emphasis on the nutrients in whole fresh vegetables - more vegetables than fruits.

They agree, but they substantially disagree - and they settled on agreeing to the notion that they "agree about 90% of the time..."

From Wikipedia:

Starch is the most common carbohydrate in the human diet and is contained in many staple foods. The major sources of starch intake worldwide are thecereals (rice, wheat, and maize) and the root vegetables (potatoes and cassava).^[23] Many other starchy foods are grown, some only in specific climates, including acorns, arrowroot, arracacha, bananas, barley, breadfruit, buckwheat, canna, colacasia, katakuri, kudzu, malanga, millet, oats, oca, polynesian arrowroot, sago, sorghum, sweet potatoes, rye, taro, chestnuts, water chestnuts and yams, and many kinds of beans, such as favas, lentils, mung beans,peas, and chickpeas.

Widely used prepared foods containing starch are bread, pancakes, cereals, noodles, pasta, porridge and tortilla.

If we ate fewer starches, might we fart less frequently?

From Wikipedia:

Digestive enzymes have problems digesting crystalline structures. Raw starch will digest poorly in the duodenum and small intestine, while bacterial degradation will take place mainly in the colon.

Some of us have celebrated the WIDE VARIETY of available foods of plant origin Vance Lehmkuhl even sings about it.

I still think that erring on the side of nutrient-density is good, but affordability and refrigeration can be issues. Therefore, whole vegetables (grow your own, like the Obama family does at the White House); farmers' markets; regular grocery store (shop produce aisle first), etc. Eat them as you need them (and share the rest). Further, when talking with students, other singles, and general inquirers, buying vegetables in the grocery is ALWAYS cheaper than dining out. But college students have overpriced dining hall meal plans.

I need to credit my boss who raised the rhetorical question: "Why do so many Americans NOT want to be thin and attractive?" Nudging from many sources - my boss, my vegan friends, and my doctor - pushed me to search for how as a vegan I could lose weight on an evidence-based program.

And to credit Michelle Obama, though she and her program are not my specific reason for 'daily motions' throughout my day, every one of us ought to get up and get out there and 'start moving' around...

I'm concerned to live by just principles. Vegans CAN do that with evidence-based strategies that are built from the growing bodies of knowledge relevant to that project in human history. Others seem to live, but that may not be justice, simply because they are able to live in health, if they do great damage and harm to other persons - simply because they only ways they know to feed themselves involve the destruction of others.

Maynard

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maynard S. Clark, MS (Management: Research Administration)

Losing Sleep

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 23:19:00 -0400

Losing Sleep | HMS

Losing Sleep

‘Sleep switch’ neurons diminish with age and Alzheimer’s disease

By BONNIE PRESCOTT

August 20, 2014

As people grow older, they often have difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep, and tend to awaken too early in the morning. In individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, this common and troubling symptom of aging tends to be especially pronounced, often leading to nighttime confusion and wandering.

Now, a study led by researchers at Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the University of Toronto/Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre helps explain why sleep becomes more fragmented with age. Reported online in the journal Brain, the new findings demonstrate for the first time that a group of inhibitory neurons, whose loss leads to sleep disruption in experimental animals, are substantially diminished among the elderly and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, and that this, in turn, is accompanied by sleep disruption.

“On average, a person in his 70s has about one hour less sleep per night than a person in his 20s,” explained senior author Clifford Saper, the HMS James Jackson Putnam Professor of Neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess. “Sleep loss and sleep fragmentation is associated with a number of health issues, including cognitive dysfunction, increased blood pressure and vascular disease, and a tendency to develop type 2 diabetes. It now appears that loss of these neurons may be contributing to these various disorders as people age.”

Clifford Saper. Image: BIDMC Media ServicesIn 1996, the Saper lab first discovered that the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus, a key cell group of inhibitory neurons, was functioning as a “sleep switch” in rats, turning off the brain’s arousal systems to enable animals to fall asleep. “Our experiments in animals showed that loss of these neurons produced profound insomnia, with animals sleeping only about 50 percent as much as normal and their remaining sleep being fragmented and disrupted,” he explained.

A group of cells in the human brain, the intermediate nucleus, is located in a similar location and has the same inhibitory neurotransmitter, galanin, as the vetrolateral preoptic nucleus in rats. The authors hypothesized that if the intermediate nucleus was important for human sleep and was homologous to the animal’s ventrolateral preoptic nucleus, then it may also similarly regulate humans’ sleep-wake cycles.

In order to test this hypothesis, the investigators analyzed data from theRush Memory and Aging Project, a community-based study of aging and dementia which began in 1997 and has been following a group of almost 1,000 subjects who entered the study as healthy 65-year-olds and are followed until their deaths, at which point their brains are donated for research.

“Since 2005, most of the subjects in the memory and aging project have been undergoing actigraphic recording every two years. This consists of their wearing a small wristwatch-type device on their non-dominant arm for seven to 10 days,” explained first author Andrew S. P. Lim of the University of Toronto and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and a former member of the Saper lab. The actigraphy device, which is waterproof, is worn 24 hours a day and thereby monitors all movements, large and small, divided into 15-second intervals. “Our previous work had determined that these actigraphic recordings are a good measure of the amount and quality of sleep,” he added.

The authors examined the brains of 45 study subjects (median age at death, 89.2), identifying ventrolateral preoptic neurons by staining the brains for the neurotransmitter galanin. They then correlated the actigraphic rest-activity behavior of the 45 individuals in the year prior to their deaths with the number of remaining ventrolateral preoptic neurons at autopsy.

“We found that in the older patients who did not have Alzheimer’s disease, the number of ventrolateral preoptic neurons correlated inversely with the amount of sleep fragmentation,” said Saper. “The fewer the neurons, the more fragmented the sleep became.” The subjects with the most neurons (greater than 6,000) spent 50 percent or more of total rest time in the prolonged periods of non-movement most likely to represent sleep while subjects with the fewest ventrolateral preoptic neurons (fewer than 3,000) spent less than 40 percent of total rest time in extended periods of rest. The results further showed that among Alzheimer’s patients, most sleep impairment seemed to be related to the number of ventrolateral preoptic neurons that had been lost.

“These findings provide the first evidence that the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus in humans probably plays a key role in causing sleep, and functions in a similar way to other species that have been studied,” said Saper. “The loss of these neurons with aging and with Alzheimer’s disease may be an important reason why older individuals often face sleep disruptions. These results may, therefore, lead to new methods to diminish sleep problems in the elderly and prevent sleep-deprivation-related cognitive decline in people with dementia.”

This work was supported by a Dana Foundation Clinical Neuroscience Grant and National Institutes of Health grants P01AG009975, P01HL095491, R01NS072337, R01AG017917, R01AG024480, R01NS078009, R01AG043379 and R01AG042210. Other support came from grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Robert C. Borwell Endowment Fund.

Adapted from a Beth Israel Deaconess news release.

Losing Sleep: ‘Sleep switch’ neurons diminish with age and Alzheimer’s disease | HMS

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 10:48:00 -0400

Losing Sleep | HMS

Losing Sleep

‘Sleep switch’ neurons diminish with age and Alzheimer’s disease

By BONNIE PRESCOTT

August 20, 2014

Adapted from a Beth Israel Deaconess news release.

NEJM Features Articles On Global Health Issues May 02, 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Maynard S. Clark) — Mon, 5 May 2014 12:37:00 -0400

NEJM Features Articles On Global Health Issues May 02, 2014