Edward's Blog

With all the talk about the deficit is anyone really looking at the fact that it has actually been shrinking since 2009. The whole sequester should just be repealed because cutting jobs right now would only make the recovery longer and possibly send us back into recession. Click above for a good article from Alternet on the topic.

Let’s please stop the insanity of allowing military grade automatic assault weapons on our streets.  The President’s actions and proposals do not in any way get in the way of law abiding citizens owning guns for hunting.  The NRA really needs to get back to it’s historical roots and support common sense gun control as they once did. Calling for more even more guns or saying that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun is not common sense.

The President’s plan includes:

• Closing background check loopholes to keep guns out of dangerous hands
• Banning military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and taking other common sense steps
• Making schools safer
• Increasing access to mental health services

He has called on congress to to pass as soon as possible the following measures:

• Eliminating loopholes and requiring background checks for all gun sales
• Reinstating the prohibition on high-capacity magazines
• Renewing and strengthening the ban on assault weapons
• Creating serious penalties for gun traffickers
• Getting armor-piercing bullets off the streets by prohibiting the possession and transfer of this dangerous ammunition
• Keep 15,000 cops on the street
• Further research on gun violence
• Help schools develop and implement comprehensive emergency management plans
• Removing restrictions that require ATF to authorize importation of dangerous weapons simply because of their age

Be sure to contact your congressional representatives and make sure they support these measures!

To show your support for the President’s Plan click on the title of this post above and you will be taken to the site to add your name.  I did and am proud to help stop gun violence in the United States. It is about time!

This is a very interesting article on the history of the NRA because the principals and values that the association was founded on is not what the organization is today.

I just hope that we can all come to some rational agreement on the control of assault weapons and other war machinery but not infringe on a citizen’s right to owning guns for hunting. It just doesn’t make sense to me why we are even having these arguments.

Congratulations to Minnesota for moving up one stop from Number 6 to Number 5 in the overall health ranking compared to the other 49 states! The rankings are published by the United Health Foundation.

From living here in Minnesota for a year now I can attest to the number of individuals that I see working out and are healthy and fit. The only thing that baffles me a bit is the number of people that are from Minnesota that are not into winter sports. There is so much to offer for all kinds of skiing (I like Nordic) and snowshoeing, so go figure. On a summer day, however, it like a traffic jam on the trails with bicyclists, roller bladers, runners, and walkers.

Wow, what a season from what used to be perennial favorites in earlier decades. The Fighting Irish have come back and have an excellent shot at the Bowl Championship Series title. Of course, Notre Dame does not have it all wrapped up as yet even with their Numer One Associated Press final end of season ranking. They play Number Two, Alabama on January 7, 2013 for the overall BCS championship. If the Irish go on to win it would be there first title since 1988!

Being a Michigan State and Michigan alumnus I don’t have a great love for Notre Dame but I do congratulate them for a wonderful season and wish them well in seeking their 14th overall NCAA Football title. Interestingly enough they are tied with Alabama at thirteen NCAA titles each.

Congratulations to a great coach on being chosen to receive the prestigious 2013 John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching award for his outstanding work for the University of Kansas Jayhawks basketball program.  A class act!

Now here is what we as a nation should continue providing tax breaks for in a big way rather than our myopic reliance on oil. Not a total solution but what if we all could start giving back to the grid through wind, solar, and other forms of alternative energy!

I subscribe to the TED Podcast (TED.com) which has very interesting 15 minute talks on Technology, Education, and Design.

This video is of James Hansen, a top climate scientist and Adjunct Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, who tells of his involvement in the science and debate on global climate change over his long career. He outlines the overwhelming evidence that change is happening and why that makes him deeply worried and that we must do something now.

Professor Hansen offers a solution which basically says that we need to subsidize or provide tax credits for alternative energy rather than continually doing so for fossil fuels which are creating a blanket around the earth and thus warming the planet.

Regardless of your opinion on global climate change this video is well worth watching. Thanks to TED and James Hansen for making this video available.

This article talks about additional benefits of regular green tea drinking.  In this case green tea drinkers have a lower risk of developing functional disability.  The research is out of Japan.

While I drink green tea every day even the authors are cautious about accepting the research. They ”…stressed that their study in no way proves that it is just the green tea that protects against functional disability as people age. They also noticed that the heavy green tea drinkers also ate more fruit and vegetables, consumed more fish, were less likely to smoke, had fewer strokes and/or heart attacks, and tended to have a higher level of education. They were also found to have sharper cognitive function.”

The article also mentions the many varieties of green teas in Japan.

This is an excellent article for leaders at all levels.  I know I need to pay more attention to these points and hope to do so in 2012!

This is quite concerning that Android, Apple, and Blackberry smartphones have secretly had spyware rootkit software installed by manufacturers and telecom providers called Carrier IQ. Even though there seems to be push-back on what exactly is being recorded and reported this article provides some links to turn off Carrier IQ on your telephone.  With iOS 5 on iPhones it is a very easy turnoff.  Other phones are a bit more difficult.

Some interesting sports research published by the Department of Kinesiology at my alma mater on team work. Even with non-sports teams there is a lot to the Power of We! 

This is an interesting article about some research published in the scientific journal, Molecular Cell, that shows that caloric restriction increases the production of the enzyme, Srx1, which repairs another enzyme called Prx1. The study reveals that repair of Prx1 consequently emerges as a key process in ageing and possibly the delay or development of cancer.

Of course I like to reduce caloric intake for weight control and health so this is a nice benefit.  My adage is that “the more you eat the more you eat” and we, especially Americans with our high fat, sugar, and salt diet, need to drastically reduce the amount and kind of foods we eat.

This article is great news for us older athletes and something I suspected all along given the lack of exercise by not only 20 year olds but all ages.

The lesson here is get out and start exercising.  My favorite activities are Nordic skiing, bicycling, kayaking, Nordic walking, and if I have to work out inside NordicTrack or an elliptical trainer if I am traveling.

Not new news in this article but certainly we continue to head in the wrong direction with our healthcare spending. We spent the highest of any other nation in the world but have these poor scorecard grades.  It is time we move in a different direction.

Healthcare reform only solves who has insurance which unfortunately still does not address all the core cost and access issues.  A start nonetheless!