Lofty Matters

Quite the opposite of an effective weight loss pill, but this bears talking about.

A doctor who has been treating malnourished people is now working with plant scientists to try to improve the nutritional content of food. Three internationally known organizations based in St. Louis have created the Global Harvest Alliance. The goal is to create inexpensive, nutritionally complete food to help the hungry and undernourished. Researchers hope to bring the labs in Missouri together with health centers and farms in places where people die from malnourishment.

The goal is to find ways to improve some foods already used to treat malnourishment. Another goal is to help testing and distribution of crops genetically modified to boost nutritional content. The goal is to provide the crops cheaply to farmers to produce more nutritious foods.

How could we be staring September square in the face already?!? I know it is a sign of getting older to say this so much, but I’m gonna anyway. Time goes so fast!!!!! I’m not ready for September in any way, shape, or form.

Ah well, unfortunately that does not matter.

On to the good news of the day!

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Missouri Woman Donates Kidney to Her Neighbor

Two Kansas City women have lived next to each other for 30 years. Jackson moved into her home in 1977 and Walz moved in next door about a year later. Claudine Jackson and Jo Ann Walz recently became even closer when Walz donated her kidney to Jackson.

The neighbors had always been friends. Over the past three years Walz began helping Jackson with car rides to dialysis treatments, doctor’s appointments and shopping.

This neighborly donation ended two years of waiting for Jackson.

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Pump Up the Volume, Pump Up Your Workout

New research has found that women could pump up their workouts, especially their strengthening exercises, when they pumped up the volume on their favorite tunes.

Music helps motivate in several ways. An upbeat tempo gets you moving and music also tends to distract you from what you’re doing, meaning you don’t notice the pain so much. Music might also cause adrenaline to help you through a workout.

Exercisers should remember, however, that health officials caution against prolonged exposure to loud music, especially in headphones or earbuds. Don’t turn up the music too high.

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88-Year-Old Chick-fil-A Founder Reaches $25 Million Scholarship Milestone

In this economy, many companies are searching for ways to trim costs and reduce budgets. Not so for Chick-fil-A, as it continues its 36-year commitment to education. Founder S. Truett Cathy has just reached his $25 million Leadership Scholarship milestone.

On August 24, Cathy participate in a ceremony to commemorate this milestone and to acknowledge the 25,000th Leadership Scholarship given to Chick-fil-A team member Jamie Dyche. The ceremony will be held at Atlanta’s downtown Chick-fil-A “Climb with Care and Confidence” statue.

Greetings! Another weekend has arrived. School preparations in full-force around my house with one heading off to college, one settling into his second year of high school, one in middle school, and the rest at various stages of grade school. One more week of freedom and then…

REALITY!

We are hoping to make the most of this last week with several days trips. One to the zoo and perhaps another to a waterpark (weather permitting).

Anyway…on to the good news!

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American Expands In-Flight Internet Access

American Airlines has expanded its in-flight internet service to more aircraft.

The airline has now made the Wi-Fi service available on the MD-80 aircraft. American plans to expand Internet access to half its fleet over the next two years. Travelers sign up on the ground and connect when the plane reaches 10,000 feet. Browsers all connect to Aircell’s inflight portal site.

American’s executive vice president of marketing, says the carrier has received “positive feedback from customers who use the service to stay connected while in the air.”

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Man Spells Out Marriage Proposal in Ohio FieldA wheat farm in Ohio is where a man spelled out a marriage proposal and took his girlfriend up in a plane to see it.

Aleasha Decker, 23, was excited and stunned when she read the question, “Aleasha, marry me?” It was spelled out in 20-foot, sheet plastic letters. They were on top of a harvested field in a field about 60 miles southwest of Toledo, Ohio.

Jason Kahle had help from his father, who farms the land and flies a small plane.

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Computer Game Taps Creativity of Scientists to Solve Energy Problems

The American Chemical Society’s National Meeting will be the host of a new “thought experiment” to focus the creative minds of hundreds of scientists on solutions to find sustainable new sources of energy.

The exercise will use a computer game format and more than 12,000 chemists will gather to play. Players use their own computers to register on a Web site. The computer asks players to consider a fictitious yet plausible scenario in which there is an abundance of cheap, efficient, and “green” energy sources. Players are to imagine the implications of this scenario of abundant, sustainable energy, including its benefits and challenges.

Moderators will rate players on the overall quality of their ideas. The players with the most points win the game. Ideas will be made available to the scientific community and policy makers.

August is half over and summer is winding down. Do you have any big plans between now and Labor Day? It seems my family is planning on fitting a bunch of stuff into the next few weeks. Should be fun…but busy!

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Students Create Cane With E-tags to Guide Blind
A cane equipped with the technology used to tag merchandise could help blind people avoid obstacles. An engineering professor and five students at Central Michigan University created a “Smart Cane” that can read electronic navigational tags installed between buildings. During the spring term, the professor and the students tested the cane.

The canes have a Radio Frequency Identification technology, which is similar to what retailers put on items to keep them from being stolen. The Smart Cane has an ultrasonic sensor and a miniature navigational system inside a messenger-style bag.

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Star Adoption Helps Fund Kepler Mission

The Pale Blue Dot project, is being run by a nonprofit organization (not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA). So far the project has raised about $10,000 to fund the Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium. This is a project to measure the absolute sizes of the stars on Kepler’s target list. This project is separate from Kepler’s main mission to hunt for planets, and is not covered by the same $600 million NASA budget.

When someone adopts a star, it is tagged with the sponsor’s name, both in Google Sky and in a text version of the catalog. No two people can adopt the same star.

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Web Site Sends Texts Into Space

An Australian Web site is giving texting a new twist and allowing users to send short mobile messages into space. From Aug. 12 until Aug. 24, people can visit Hello from Earth to post messages no longer than 160 characters. that will be transmitted to Gliese 581d. This is the nearest Earth-like planet outside the solar system that is likely to support life.

How’s this for insurance marketing…

Have you bought a cell phone lately? It can be a stressful experience. When you are almost finished they levy the insurance question on you. If you are buying an iPhone, BlackBerry or Palm Pres, it makes sense to consider insurance. Be careful though, and ask questions.

There are other companies like Safeware, SquareTrade and Best Buy that offer insurance and warranty policies independently. In addition, some home and auto insurance companies let customers add smartphones to existing policies.

Search your insurance options first and read the terms and conditions of the insurance policy through the carrier. Don’t just sign papers…ask questions and then make the most prudent decision for your situation.

Edward Williams has now won the lottery for a second time in one year. Williams, of Wichita, Kansas, won $75,000 in September. This week he has now defied the odds again when he matched all the numbers in the Super Kansas Cash Drawing. He won the jackpot worth almost $900,000.

Boy…if it were me, I would totally be looking into orlando resort deals and getting out of the northland before it gets cold soon.

AED Stands for Automated External Defibrillators – very small, but very large lifesaving devices.

Corporal Ben Kopp, a Ranger in the US Army, was not so fortunate. This soldier has given life in the face of death, however, by giving his heart, pancreas, liver, and kidneys to others.

Corporal Kopp was wounded while on his 3rd tour of duty in Afghanistan. Because of the loss of a great amount of blood he suffered a cardiac arrest and then died.

His mother said there was never a doubt as to what to do next. He had wanted to be an organ donor and had signed a living will before he went to Afghanistan.

Happy Weekend to you! Raining steadily outside my window right now…but it sound peaceful and pleasant in the early morning hours. My garden was thirsty, too…so I won’t complain.

On to the good news…hope it serves to uplift!

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Website Launches Lost-And-Found Technology

SendMeHome has launched a free recovery service. Through their SendMeHome.com website, you can now register your personal valuables. Your items will be given a unique ID code. Next you need to either write this code on the item, print out a free label, or order a professional label. If the item is ever lost, the website enables you to communicate anonymously with anyone who might find it in order to arrange its return.

This service assumes the good nature and honesty of strangers by making it easier and safer to return lost items. SendMeHome believes this service will save people money by facilitating the safe return of lost property.

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Plastics That Convert Light to Electricity Could Have a Big Impact

Researchers are striving to develop organic solar cells that could be widely used to generate electricity. The goal is to develop cells made from low-cost plastics that will transform at least 10 percent of the sunlight that they absorb into electricity and that can also be easily manufactured.

A research team has found a way to make images of tiny bubbles and channels inside plastic solar cells. These bubbles and channels form within the polymers as they are being created. The researchers are able to measure directly how much current each bubble and channel carries. This increases the understanding of how a solar cell converts light into electricity.

Making solar cells more efficient is important for making them cost effective. If costs can be brought down, these solar cells might offset the need for so much coal-generated electricity in the future.

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Bald-Headed, Pink-Faced Songbird Discovered

A bald-headed songbird with distinctive calls has just been discovered in a region of Laos. This discovery is noteworthy because this appears to be the only known bald songbird in Asia.

The bald-headed bulbul showed itself to be outgoing by foraging and noisily moving about the researchers. In is thrush-sized with a greenish body, a light-colored breast and “bluish skin” around the eyes.

The bird appears to be a tree-dweller. Researchers describe the song as “bubbling,” “churring,” and “whistling.” The bird produces at least one song that rises distinctly and ends abruptly.

Tags: bald-headed songbird, SendMeHome, solar cells

Time to throw out everything but the kitchen sink. The kitchen sink in this case being…GARLIC!

Freshly crushed garlic has more heart-healthy effects than dried garlic. Garlic’s effects seem to come from hydrogen sulfide. This is a chemical signaling substance that forms after garlic is cut or crushed and it relaxes blood vessels after being eaten.

Scientists gave freshly crushed garlic and processed garlic to two groups of lab rats. Both crushed and processed garlic reduced any damage from lack of oxygen. Fresh garlic had a significantly greater effect on restoring beneficial blood flow in the aorta. It also increased pressure in the left ventricle of the heart.

Yikes…August already. I wish the winters went as fast as the summers. Where I live we are already contemplating the cooler weather being upon us again soon. Depressing…

Need some good news? I do!

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Little Lifesavers: Kids Capable of CPR

Kids as young as nine can and should learn CPR. A recent study of 147 schoolchildren has determined that although the smallest kids may lack some physical strength, they can readily learn and retain the knowledge of how to perform basic life support.

A team of researchers studied children who had received six hours of life support training. Four months after the training, 86% were able to still perform CPR correctly. The skills taught to the children included automatic defibrillator deployment, providing CPR and calling for the emergency services. Success in the skills of CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was dependent on the size of the child. Age was not a factor.

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U.S. Postal Service Opens Its First Green Roof

The U.S. Postal Service has another example of its environmental leadership. It has dedicated its first (and New York City’s largest) green roof at the top of the Morgan mail processing facility.

The building was built in 1933 and is a 2.2 million square foot facility located in midtown Manhattan. Its roof was constructed originally to serve as an additional mail processing location. When the roof was scheduled to be replaced in 2007, it was determined that it was strong enough to support the necessary weight to create a green roof.

The green roof will last up to 50 years, which is twice as long as the roof it replaced. It will reduce the amount of contaminants in storm water runoff as well. It is almost 2.5 acres and sits seven stories above the city. The green roof offers a beautiful view of midtown Manhattan and the northern New Jersey shore.

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Gaza Children Attempt World Record for Kite Flying

Children in the Gaza Strip attempted to set a new world record by flying colorful homemade kites. The event was sponsored by the United Nations and brought 6,000 campers where they released their kites into the sky.

The Guinness Book of World Records said it had received an application from Gaza for “most kites flown simultaneously.” Guinness officials were unable to send a judge to the attempt because of travel restrictions into Gaza. The current record is 967 kites. The children would be able to break the record even without a judge if the accomplishment is verified in another way, according to a Guinness official.

Tags: CPR, green roof, Guinness Book of World Records, U.S. Postal Service