Non-football related stuff that really makes your day

[Sharkbait]

Sweet, nice pic CG.

[-Oz-]

Happy Belated Birthday to Bill and Stan...and congrats to Islair on the birth of his baby boy!

[YT]

Thanks Oz!

How's the little one?

Has he went outback and killed a wallaby yet?

[Panoptes]

More evidence that people need to stay off their cell phones while driving!

'Supertaskers' That Can Drive and Talk on Phone Rare
*livescience.com – 1 hr 8 mins ago

A very small percentage of the population can safely drive while talking on their cell phones, but chances are high that you're not one of these "supertaskers."

In a new study, psychologists have identified a group of people who can successfully do two things at once, in this case talking on a cell phone while operating a driving simulator without noticeable impairment.

Supertaskers only make up about 2.5 percent of the general population, however, said study team member James Watson of the University of Utah.

"Given the number of individuals who routinely talk on the phone while driving, one would have hoped that there would be a greater percentage of supertaskers," Watson said.

"And while we'd probably all like to think we are the exception to the rule, the odds are overwhelmingly against it. In fact, the odds of being a supertasker are about as good as your chances of flipping a coin and getting five heads in a row."

In the study, the researchers assessed the performance of 200 participants over a single task (simulated freeway driving), and again with a second demanding activity (a cell phone conversation that involved memorizing words and solving math problems). Performance was then measured in four areas: braking reaction time, following distance, memory, and math execution.

As expected, the driving ability of most of the participants suffered if they simultaneously talked on their cell phones.

It took them 20 percent longer to hit the brakes when needed, and following distances increased 30 percent as the drivers failed to keep pace with the simulated traffic. Memory performance declined 11 percent, and the ability to do math problems fell 3 percent.

However, when supertaskers talked while driving, they displayed no change in their normal braking times, following distances or math ability, and their memory abilities actually improved 3 percent.

"There is clearly something special about the supertaskers," said study co-author David Strayer, also of the University of Utah.

"Why can they do something that most of us cannot? Psychologists may need to rethink what they know about multitasking in light of this new evidence. We may learn from these very rare individuals that the multitasking regions of the brain are different and that there may be a genetic basis for this difference."

Watson and Strayer are now studying expert fighter pilots under the assumption that those who can pilot a jet aircraft are also likely to be natural supertaskers.

The study will be published later this year in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin and Review.

*You too cops! Look at you, all driving that deadly vehicle while talking on a radio or cell and then typing data into a computer searching while always scanning for perps.

Everyone, pay attention to your driving.

Its the most dangerous thing you do everyday.

Except for DanO. Who knows what danger he is up to everyday when left alone. ;)

[Panoptes]

Now everyone can feel as though they have a reason for why they're an ADDICT!

Food Addiction Likened to Dependency on Hard Drugs
*Updated: 4 hours 12 minutes ago, Katie Drummon Contributor

AOL News (March 29) -- High-fat, high-calorie foods pack the same addictive punch as hard drugs, according to new research on rats that could help explain compulsive eating, and therefore some cases of obesity, in humans.

Investigators at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida, whose study is published in this week's Nature Neuroscience, doled out different diets to three groups of rats. Over 40 days, all three were fed healthy, regular meals. For one group, that was it. But a second group was fed high-fat, high-calorie foods for an hour a day, and a third was offered unlimited access to junk-food treats.

Junk food can trip pleasure centers in the brain, triggering compulsive eating, a study found.The rats were fed everyday indulgences from the grocery store, including bacon, cakes and chips.

Before long, rats in the third group were not only obese but were noshing exclusively, and constantly, on the unhealthy fare. And although they'd been trained to expect a shock when exposed to a flash of light, the treat-loving rats didn't flinch at the stimulus -- they were too fixated on food.

When the research team performed brain scans on the rats, they concluded that the third group exhibited cerebral responses similar to those seen in drug addicts. The rats had fewer dopamine receptors, which indicate less capacity to experience pleasure. This brain change is a common characteristic among drug addicts.

Addiction overloads the brain's "pleasure centers," leading to increased tolerance for one's stimulus of choice, whether it's a drug or food. Enjoyable feelings require more and more input, leading to compulsive consumption.

"People know intuitively that there's more to [overeating] than just willpower," lead researcher Paul Kenny told CNN. "There's a system in the brain that's been turned on or over-activated, and that's driving [overeating] at some subconscious level."

Knowing how foods can affect the brain might help researchers reduce overeating in humans. In 2005, researchers led by Nora Volkow, current director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, concluded that morbidly obese patients suffered from dysfunctional dopamine systems similar to those of drug addicts.

At the time, researchers were quick to point out that brain chemistry can be blamed only in rare instances. Lifestyle habits, dining choices, genetics, activity levels, mental health and hormones can all play a role in how much we eat, what we eat and how it affects our weight.

And that's why experts are hesitant to apply rat findings to humans: The mechanisms that affect our consumption are significantly more complex. But, notes Kenny, effective treatments for drug addictions might be worthwhile tools for dealing with the problem of compulsive eating.

"If we could develop therapeutics for drug addiction, those same drugs may be good for obesity as well," he said.

[DanO]

"Except for DanO. Who know what danger he is up to everyday when left alone. ;) "
-----------------------Righto Gonz.

GO LIONS "10" !!!!!!!!!!.

[Islair]

Last week I found out that my work was accepted into my first local art show (May 8th) and today I found out that I was accepted into my second (June 5th and 6th).

[Drew]

Congrats Islair. Let's see some of it.

[Islair]

All of the things I have shot so far have been in the Peoria area.

[Islair]

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[Islair]

This was taken in Rocky's backyard, Hayward, WI.

[Islair]

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[Islair]

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[Islair]

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[Islair]

One last one.