Quote of the day

“In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.”
(A.R.)

Prepare to be amazed - what you don't know about yourself

Crash course about implicit associations
A tacit assumption or implicit assumption is an assumption that includes the underlying agreements or statements made in the development of a logical argument, course of action, decision, or judgment that are not explicitly voiced nor necessarily understood by the decision maker or judge.

Do you want to find out your implicit associations about race, gender, sexual orientation, and other topics? Or even more, about your implicit associations about self-esteem, anxiety, alcohol, and other topics?

Go here.
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/

Pathways to longevity

Motto: Increased longevity without quality of life is and empty prize. (World Health Organisation - 1997)

Or as the immortal James Dean said: It is ideal to die young, but as late as possible. So tonight we will talk about pathways to longevity. What are they? Can we replicate them in order to work for us? The data is fascinating, but contradictory. It will be a long post, but i hope an interesting one, that will give you ideas about how to live long and healthier. Anyway here we can find some fun facts, like:

Hispanics less likely to live with disease. oldest-old age.
No education or black-white differences.
Former smokers more likely to live with disease compared to non-smokers.
Overweight/obese have greater disease burden throughout oldest-old age compared to normal weight at baseline.
No differences by region.
Older adults living in large metro areas at baseline more likely to escape disease.

Overall the life expectancy was 47.3 years in 1900, rises steadily to 68.2 years in 1950 and then slowly to 78.7 years in 2010. But what is interesting is happening after 2010, when an apparent tipping point is reached. At the present moment (September 2015), the life expectancy is increasing with 4 hours every week. 

Now we had some categories, one classification will see them as recoverers, delayers(long), delayers(short), survivors and escapers. Recoverers are the one that will have some illness, but will recover completely before reaching age of 100, Delayers will get sick after the age of 80 or 90, and will reach 100, but not completely healthy. Survivors will get unhealthy early, some starting from their 30-40, but still reach 100. Escapers are the ones that can reach 100 without any major health problems. Now, this is the segment on which we should focus our research and try to replicate. Sadly, only 19.5 of the centenaries are escapers. White, Black and Hispanic doesn't matter as percentage in being an escaper. Smokers and ones that never smoked are slightly more as percentage than former smokers, underweight, normal, overweight and obese got similar chances in reaching age of 100. 

Surprisingly, Terman 90 years ''life cycle study'' offered us some insights. And more than that, appears to be an array of benefits from religious and spiritual practices and experiences that benefit physical and mental health". ("Spirituality and the Aging Brain". Andrew B Newberg. Generations: Vol. 35. No. 2. Spring 2011. p.87,88). This is an important box to tick. Spirituality and life coaching is importat, more important than we think. In this age of technology, when we spend most of the time in front of our phones and tablets, of working overtime, this is some mind boggling truth. So i repeat, spirituality  need to have a very important place in our life. 

Second, fulfilling relationship and being a happy couple it is crucial in living a long healthy life. But how many of us dear to think at this. A long term relationship, no divorce, healthy sexual life, real emotional connection, financial independence, perfect mental health, all this up to 100 years or more. What are the odds? Very low, we would say. But is not true. We estimate that 75% of us will achieve this by the year 2100. 

Eating, this seems to be an important part in me majority of the cases, but is much harder to achieve today, even with all the organic, non GMO, healthy products available. Vegetarians have a small advantage versus the ones with a predominant meat eating diet, and we do not have enough data to differentiate in between vegans, vegetarians, pescetarians and all the slightly different versions of non red meat diet, but they do better than the average "fast food - fast cooking from prepacked" diet. Calorie restriction diet also had a result, but not as significant as we expected. 

Exercise is important, even as a voluntary act, or under the name of a very active career. But even here we experience variations, as seems to be more important to use multidisciplinary training like Parkour for example, for the unique health of the joints effect, gymnastics versus heavy weight training. Slow versus fast is not very different, even if yoga and Tai-chi fare better than gym, but a combination of both is working better. Running is good too, but in the end diversity seems to bring the most benefits, a mix of yoga, martial arts, athletics and swimming seems to be an example of  a good mix. Exercise extends average life span in rodents as well as humans, and it should be included in combination tests with other treatments, because exercise and medications can interact constructively or destructively.  Exercise signals the body for life extension with peroxide, which looks a lot like oxidative damage.  There is a stunningly counter-intuitive finding from recent years that anti-oxidants can interfere with the life extension benefits of exercise.

Science, we like to play with powers we do not understand completely, yet, but some results were achieved too. We have many disciplines related with this. Let's talk about each one using a short resume. 

Biochemical researches to make the youth pill is work in progress, and here we talk about substances like: 

a. CR mimetics / insulin  / IGF

(metformin, MCP - marine collagen peptides, dinitrophenol, resveratrol - extracted from red wine, pycnogenol - extracted from pine bark)

b. Anti-inflammatory - Anti-inflammation is once of the most promising avenues to life extension.

(aspirin, NDGA) - mixed results

c. Neuroprotection  

(ginkgo -  impressive life extension in rats, deprenyl - dopamine is a neurotransmitter that decreases with age.  Low dopamine levels in the brain are the proximate cause of Parkinson’s disease, and in this sense, we are all pre-Parkinson’s patients as we age.  Deprenyl is an MAO-B inhibitor, which means that, via indirect action, it inhibits the uptake and disposal of dopamine.  Deprenyl makes dopamine hang around longer.)

d. Mitochondria / ROS  

(SkQ, CoQ10 - Vladimir Skulachev has devoted the latter part of his career to a molecule of his own invention, which combines a chelated, positively charged ion at one end of a carbon chain with a CoQ10 molecule at the other.  The positive ion acts like a tugboat, pulling the molecule through the mitochondrial membrane into the mitochondrion itself, where the CoQ10 can do the most good.  Skulachev’s molecule, nicknamed SkQ, concentrates itself a million-fold inside the mitochondria, where it is needed most.  In experiments with life span and health span, the SkQ molecule (administered eye drops) has reversed cataracts and macular degeneration, and (administered orally) has has extended life span in mice.)

e. Anticancer

(green tea, melatonin)

f. TOR = Target of Rapamycin  

(rapamycin)

g. Increased autophagy  

(spermidine - autophagy is the name of the cell’s main clean-up process, eliminating accumulated wastes.  Spermidine promotes autophagy, and is found in many foods.  As an anti-aging agent, it has been championed by Frank Madeo of University of Graz. He reports dramatic life extension in worms and flies, and smaller life increases in life span for rodents.)

h. Miscellaneous or unknown mechanisms

(PBN, dinh lang, short peptides)

Telomeres - There are now many herbal extracts that are known to promote expression of telomerase, and (probably) work in vitro to increase telomere length.  Extracts of astragalus, milk thistle, horny goat weed, ashwagandha, turmeric root and fish oil have all shown promise in lab studies.  These substances are unlikely to extend life span in lab mice because, unlike humans, mice already express telomerase copiously through their lifetimes, and mouse telomeres are much longer than human telomeres.  But there are some rodents that don’t express telomerase, and they would make appropriate models for testing telomerase extenders alongside the above medications in life span studies.

This was the biochemical anti aging approach.

Many scientists have attempted to find the “Fountain of Youth.” Although many genetic and medical treatments have increased the average human life expectancy, these treatments have yet to increase lifespan over a hundred years.

However, this statement may no longer hold true in the future. In a recent issue of Nature Communications, Mitra Lavasani, et al. (2012) conducted an experiment involving fast-aging, genetically engineered mice. These mice have a usual lifespan of 21 days. A few days before the mice reached their predicted maximum life span, the injections were delivered at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Pittsburgh. The results were astounding. The elderly mice lived approximately 70 days – three times their normal lifespan. In human terms, that would be the equivalent of an 80-year-old living to be 200. Specifically, the investigators studied the effects of injecting muscle-derived stem/progenitor cells (MDSPCs) into a murine progeria model (fast-aging mice). Since age-related degenerative changes are universal in the musculoskeletal system, the impact on the musculoskeletal system by murine muscle-derived stem/progenitor cells (MDSPCs) became the primary focus of the experiments. MDSPCs are multipotent cells isolated from postnatal skeletal muscle. They have the capacity for long-term proliferation, are resistant to oxidative and inflammatory stress, show multilineage differentiation and self-renew, induce neovascularization, and stimulate regeneration of bone, skeletal, and cardiac muscles. These characteristics raise the possibility that the loss of MDSPCs or related perivascular progenitor cells could contribute to sarcopenia, osteoporosis and other age-associated degenerative diseases.

On Feb. 20, 2010, Gregory M. Fahy, PhD and Saul Kent interviewed Michael West, PhD, CEO of BioTime, Inc., about a new breakthrough published in the journal Regenerative Medicine. The paper reported the reversal of what Dr. West has called the “developmental aging” of adult human cells in the laboratory dish. Utilizing genes that grant our reproductive cells the potential for immortal growth, the researchers showed that it was possible to turn back the clock in human body cells, enabling the potential for young patient-specific cells of any kind for use in regenerative medicine. This research was funded in part by the Life Extension Foundation®. The name “regenerative medicine” came from Bill Haseltine, then of Human Genome Sciences, one of the early leaders in genomics and DNA technology. Back in the 1990, Bill learned that researchers in aging were making important progress on turning back the clock of aging in human cells through cloning, and then creating young cells that could potentially regenerate or repair all the tissues of the aged human body. And so, upon hearing of that realistic prospect, he christened the field “regenerative medicine” in the belief that it would one day become a major part of medical practice. So, based on its origins, I would define regenerative medicine as that collection of technologies that utilizes embryonic pluripotent stem cells and their derivatives to regenerate tissues in the body ravaged from disease, primarily degenerative disorders associated with aging.

Some researches focused on what we call the immortal cells. Early in the history of evolution, life existed as single cells, not unlike the protozoa swimming around in pond water today. These animals replicated by simply splitting into two new cells. They didn’t have to die and are therefore called “immortal.” In the following millennium, these immortal cells spun off specialized helper cells to help them compete in feeding and reproduction. These helper cells selflessly served the needs of the immortal cells and became what we call the “body” while the immortal cells became what we call the “germ line.” Since the immortal cells carried genetic information, they selected for the body to die after it served its purpose. Where are these immortal cells in you and me? In the adult human, they are the egg cells in a woman’s ovary, and the sperm-forming cells in the testicles of a man. When a sperm and egg unite, the resulting cells continue the germ line by forming a small cluster of immortal cells that go on to make new body and new immortal reproductive cells of a new human being, a cycle that continues forever. For the first time in the history of life on earth, the body cells have evolved a brain that is capable of understanding evolution and capable of deciphering the molecular mechanisms of cellular mortality and immortality. This conscious body is now plotting to take on the legacy of immortality for itself. 

Another pathway is by using hormones.

Can hormones slow ageing? Hormones are your body's chemical messengers. One, called growth hormone (GH), controls bone growth and protein production. GH seems to play a crucial role in ageing: you stop making it somewhere between the ages of 60 and 90. Replacement GH may one day be used to counter some effects of old age, just as some women today use hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

Peter Diamandis competition with Google's Calico will  bring us huge benefits, to talk just about one minor aspect in this race to be forever young. And they have enough money and resources to do it.

Melatonin is slowly reversing the aging process, but if we take it daily we will develop increased tolerance. Ideal it is to take it only 4-5 nights a week, to slow the apparition of the tolerance effect, but we can take it every night without any problems if we want to. Sub-lingual administration is faster, and we can start with 3-5 mg doses, increasing up to 10 mg if we still have sleep problems.

Selective hormone receptor modulators are a hope in sex hormones replacement therapy (estrogens and testosterone) - a crude version of the oriental ways like Tantra-yoga. Or not. We will not know. Yet.

Aggressive supplementation is tested lately. We got 13 essential vitamins, 17 essential minerals and 2 essential fatty acids. Vitamins are divided by water-soluble (C and B), and fat-soluble (A,D,E, and K). The two EFA (essential fatty acids) are alpha linolenic acid and linoleic acid. The more common minerals are calcium, copper, iodine, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, phosphorus, selenium, chromium and zinc. Of 100 or so minerals naturally occurring in nature only 17 are good for our health. Others are not needed by our body at all and are simply toxins. For each of them we need to learn about EAR - estimated average intake, RDA - recommended dietary allowance, AI - adequate intake, UL - tolerable upper intake level. And the strategy here is that More Is Better. As the last researches point out, a bit more then recommended intake seems to bring marginal benefits. 

My approach to all those different pathways is an economic one, based of the theory of aggregation of marginal gains. To use all the available methods, natural remedies and techniques that will give me  even marginal gains, so in the end the aggregation of all this marginal gains will result in a significant change. 

Quote of the day

Where focus go, energy follow!
(Tony Robbins)

Genius and Terman - The real Lie To Me doctor - Why i do not like your face?

I am thinking about a future post about connections between the work of Lewis M. Terman, Silvan Tompkins and Paul Elkman. Meaning genius study during one entire lifetime, instant facial displays of emotion recognition and milliseconds fast intuition at will. Nice set of skills. Can we train and improve them? The answer is yes.

Bionic eyes and new human senses

*As i promised, i would tell you a bit about bionic eyes, and the groundbreaking research which just seen the light in 2015. Our first story happened in England, where we had the first bionic eye implant in the world in June 2015. More about this on this link. The only limit that i heard about is that the person who will accept this need to have seen at some moment in the past. The psychological implications are too many for someone who did not seen before. And not researched enough. For the moment.

Or you can see it on YouTube. 

**But is this the only thing, this bionic eye? What if we can do even more? What if we can adapt this eye to see in infrared or in other frequency of the light specter ? The possibilities are endless. And we can do it for our hearing, or for our smelling or tasting too. We all know that our brain is very good in accepting peripherals. Maybe the neuroscientist David Eagleman is not so far fetched as he seems in this TED talk. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/david_eagleman_can_we_create_new_senses_for_humans/transcript?language=en

Fascinating!

And i will not even talk about the laws and absurd rules that are or are not set at the moment related to this subject. 

P.S. Second Sight - the company beyond the functional bionic eye concept is having an IPO. Shall we buy some shares now?

Warka water tower

Warka Water tower is a very interesting water harvesting invention.
The Warka’s water harvesting technique and construction system are inspired by several sources. Many plants and animals have developed unique micro- and nano-scale structural features on their surfaces that enable them to collect water from the air and survive in hostile environments. By studying the Namib beetle’s shell, lotus flower leaves, spider web threads and the integrated fog collection system in cactus, we are identifying specific materials and coatings that can enhance dew condensation and water flow and storage capabilities of the mesh. The termite hives have influenced the design of Warka’s outer shell, its airflow, shape and geometry. We also looked at local cultures and vernacular architecture, incorporating traditional Ethiopian basket-weaving techniques in Warka’s design.

Just check it here, it is amazing. I wonder if can be somehow adapted to the UK weather. http://www.warkawater.org/design

My Master and I - part 1

- Why, why do i need to change myself instead of expecting the others to change? I complained as a spoiled child.
- Because is easier to wear a pair of confortable slippers than to cover the whole earth surface with a fluffy carpet, my Master answered.

Brain uploading

* This blog is becoming more and more close to a scientific and future technology blog. Is fine, maybe tomorrow i will write a short story to balance it a bit.
Today subject will be brain uploading. Whole brain emulation (WBE) or mind uploading (sometimes called "mind copying" or "mind transfer") is the hypothetical process of copying mental content (including long-term memory and "self") from a particular brain substrate and copying it to a computational device, such as a digital, analog, quantum-based or software-based artificial neural network. The computational device could then run a simulation model of the brain information processing, such that it responds in essentially the same way as the original brain (i.e., indistinguishable from the brain for all relevant purposes) and experiences having a conscious mind.
Mind uploading may potentially be accomplished by either of two methods: Copy-and-Transfer or Gradual Replacement of neurons. In the case of the former method, mind uploading would be achieved by scanning and mapping the salient features of a biological brain, and then by copying, transferring, and storing that information state into a computer system or another computational device. The simulated mind could be within a virtual reality or simulated world, supported by an anatomic 3D body simulation model. Alternatively, the simulated mind could reside in a computer that's inside (or connected to) a humanoid robot or a biological body. How science fiction is this. But, if you really want to know let's talk about this in sequential steps. First we gonna need a data capture device. We are almost there. Lat me to tell you another story.
Everything felt possible at Transhuman Visions 2014, a conference in February billed as a forum for visionaries to "describe our fast-approaching, brilliant, and bizarre future." Inside an old waterfront military depot in San Francisco's Fort Mason Center, young entrepreneurs hawked experimental smart drugs and coffee made with a special kind of butter they said provided cognitive enhancements. None of this seemed particularly ambitious, however, compared with the claim soon to follow. In the back of the audience, carefully reviewing his notes, sat Randal Koene, a bespectacled neuroscientist wearing black cargo pants, a black T-shirt showing a brain on a laptop screen, and a pair of black, shiny boots. Koene had come to explain to the assembled crowd how to live forever. ''As a species, we really only inhabit a small sliver of time and space,''Koene said when he took the stage. ''We want a species that can be effective and influential and creative in a much larger sphere.'' Koene's solution was straightforward: He planned to upload his brain to a computer. By mapping the brain, reducing its activity to computations, and reproducing those computations in code, Koene argued, humans could live indefinitely, emulated by silicon. "When I say emulation, you should think of it, for example, in the same sense as emulating a Macintosh on a PC," he said. "It's kind of like platform-independent code."  The audience sat silent, possibly awed, possibly confused, as Koene led them through a complex tour of recent advances in neuroscience supplemented with charts and graphs. Koene has always had a complicated relationship with transhumanists, who likewise believe in elevating humanity to another plane. A Dutch-born neuroscientist and neuro-engineer, he has spent decades collecting the credentials necessary to bring his fringe ideas in line with mainstream science. Now, that science is coming to him. Researchers around the globe have made deciphering the brain a central objective. In 2013, both the U.S. and the EU announced initiatives that promise to accelerate brain science in much the same way that the Human Genome Project advanced genomics. The minutiae may have been lost on the crowd, but as Koene departed the stage, the significance of what they just witnessed was not: The knowledge necessary to achieve what Koene calls "substrate independent minds" seems tantalizingly within reach. The concept of brain emulation has a long, colorful history in science fiction, but it’s also deeply rooted in computer science. An entire subfield known as neural networking is based on the physical architecture and biological rules that underpin neuroscience. Roughly 85 billion individual neurons make up the human brain, each one connected to as many as 10,000 others via branches called axons and dendrites. Every time a neuron fires, an electrochemical signal jumps from the axon of one neuron to the dendrite of another, across a synapse between them. It’s the sum of those signals that encode information and enable the brain to process input, form associations, and execute commands. Many neuroscientists believe the essence of who we are—our memories, emotions, personalities, predilections, even our consciousness—lies in those patterns. The next problem to solve is that, even if we get the best data capture devices, another difficulty arises. Processing. We got not enough computer power and storage space. Some estimate our brain capacity at 2.5 petabytes (1 petabyte - 1000 terrabytes). Some said is less, some are thinking at much bigger numbers, but the fact is that we do not know for sure. When someone had just witnessed his job at its best. “This is what I do,” he says. “You have got tons of labs and researchers who are motivated by their own personal interests.” The trick, he says, is to identify the goals that could benefit brain uploading and try to push them forward—whether the researchers have asked for the help or not. Certainly, it seems, many scientists have proven willing to consult and even collaborate with Koene. That was clear last spring, when scientists from institutions as varied as MIT, Harvard University, Duke University, and the University of Southern California descended on New York City’s Lincoln Center to speak at a two-day congress that Koene organized with the Russian mogul Itskov. Called Global Future 2045, the conference’s objective was to explore the requirements and implications of transferring minds into virtual bodies by the year 2045. We are searching for immortality through technology. But is this the real answer? Is this the way? How do we know? This are some of the questions we need to answer.

** I tried to do the entire 8 hours - 8 modules Japanese course in one of my days off. Was a succes and a failure in the same time. I could do only 3 modules of approx. one hour each with 15-20 minutes break before i reach my limit. What i learn. First, it is still easy for me to learn, but eventually my focus will disappear and i will reach a limit (how can i push this limit further will be one of my next tasks). Second, lately i am easily distracted, maybe is time to reassess my yoga and meditation techniques (in other words start to do them again as i was a bit lazy and i didn't do them too much in the last months). Third, i observed that i was slacking in almost every area of my life in the last months, so in a way it was like a wake-up signal, and that is good. I was feeling like i am not at my peak, so it is the time to go back there, where everything is sunny and bright (easy to say it, but hard to achieve as it is raining a lot lately. But can't rain all the time, right Brandon?)

*** Next subject will be very interesting too, as i will take a look at human senses enhancements. But  we will talk about this in a future post. That's all for today. See you.

What can i do?

-I am very rich now, but not very happy, he told him.
-Then spend less time doing money and more time doing love! was the answer.

Genetics, human body and human enhancements, bionics and exoskeletons or how to be a superhero in 2015

* First thing to do for today, we will have a crash course in Genetics history timeline. Modern genetic engineering began in 1972 when United States Biochemists Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen used enzymes to cut a bacteria plasmid and insert another strand of DNA in the gap. Both bits of DNA were from the same type of bacteria, but this milestone, the invention of Recombinant DNA technology, offered a window into the previously impossible—the mixing of traits between totally dissimilar organisms. In 1976 Allan Maxam and Walter Gilbert developed a DNA sequencing method based on chemical modification of DNA and subsequent cleavage at specific bases. In 1991 DNA Plant Technology receives approval from the US Department of Agriculture to field test its Fish tomato but the plant is never successfully commercialized. The creation of a genetically modified plant, with a fish transgene designed for human consumption galvanizes citizen skepticism towards the emerging technology. In 1994 the first modern recombinant crop approved for sale in the U.S., in 1994, was the FlavrSavr tomato, which had a longer shelf life. However, higher costs and same bland flavor as conventional tomatoes led to it losing money and disappearing from the shelves. In 1996 a developer submitted a data set to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for AquAdvantage Salmon. The first genetically modified fish Glofish is introduced into the market in the U.S. in 2003. In 2004 the first genetically modified blue Rose made in the lab. 2010, Monsanto corporation through its Indian subsidiary Mahyco unsuccessfully attempted to introduce Bt brinjal, which was put on hold due to citizen organizing against approval for sale in the country.
Amflora genetically modified potato was approved for industrial applications in the European Union by the European Commission in the same year. 2015, first genetically engineered organism is born, a mosquito that will not give malaria to humans. Are we playing with powers that we do not understand? The future will tell us.


** In the same 2015, we are not just created our first genetically engineered organism, but we will have even more surprises for the futurologists. Although most people will have seen exoskeletons only in science fiction and superhero movies, there are actually two established fields of application for the technology: in the military and in medical rehabilitation. To date, however, no exoskeleton has been developed for use in manufacturing. This was precisely the goal that the partners in the EU's Robo-Mate project set themselves. Since the end of 2013, twelve research institutes and companies in seven European countries have been working together to develop a helper for production workers.
Now the first Robo-Mate prototype is ready; it was presented at Fraunhofer IAO in Stuttgart on 12 June. "Our exoskeleton prototype consists of modules for the arms, the trunk of the body and the legs," explains Prof. Dr. Wernher van de Venn, coordinator of the Robo-Mate project and Head of the Institute of Mechatronic Systems at Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland. We are talking about arm modules that can lift heavy weights, trunk module that is protecting our spine and leg modules that alow us to work in squatting position without exerting extra strain on our legs.
Read more about this at: http://phys.org/news/2015-06-exoskeleton-industry-unveiled.html#jCp .

*** Bionics is one of the sciences that is developing at an alarming fast rate. Today  assistive technology is giving disabled people more control and we can have a bionic hand ready in only 5 days. The bionic eye was a huge success, but i will talk about this in detail in a future post, along with the emotional and psychological implications. At this moment 50% of human body can be replaced by bionic technology. Iron man, can you here me, we are following your steps! One of the interesting applications of bionics could be in sport, imagine basketball players jumping 4-5 meters, or even in mountain climbing, or mining, they are already intensive researched for medical and combat field, and probably the best is still to come in the next 10-20 years.

That's it for the moment. See you later!

After the sunset

Tonight i feel lost,

Alone in the dark,

Without any roots to bring me

The much desired food

For my soul. 

I open my eyes. 

Another day is starting. 

Another day 

Like the yesterday one,

And i will keep going. 

Into the moonlight. 

Bedford today - News 14.9.2015

Did you know that the diference of life expentancy between good and poor areas of Bedford is of 15 years more for man and 13 years for woman?

And a short movie  about the fire alarm at Borough Hall
https://instagram.com/p/7oHEegD-sR/

Quote of the day

Look in the mirror. That's often your greatest competition.
(@ysfmagazine)

Go with the Flow

Some very interesting concept here on this website:

http://flowgenomeproject.com/

Eppur si muove

Motto:What do we want?
Time travel
When do we want it?
Is irrelevant.


I was thinking i didn't hear it first time. So i asked:
-Please tell me again who do you said you are?
-I am you from the future, not really from your future, as i belong to another line of events...
-Like a parallel universe, you mean?
- Yes, something like that. I came here to warn you. Your entire civilization was lost because of you. This is the turning point. That's why i came back exactly now.
-Stop, i do not understand, i said with a glass of water in one hand and one little pill in the other hand. What do you mean? How come one entire civilization can be extincted because of me?
-I know is hard to believe, but is true. I came only now because is the first time i can. We just discovered inter-dimensional time travel. Let's me explain. What you are starting right now, taking Carbomidazole for you thyroid hyper-activity will have disastrous consequences for the mankind. In the alternate universe where i was living i did not take them. So my thyroid hormones apparent imbalance took me to a further step in creativity. And not only. One day i was surprised to realize that i could translate the electromagnetic radio waves around me and hear the mobile calls. I specialized in anti-aging research. I discovered internal and external enhancer for the human body. Bionic replacements, artificial senses enhancers, human memory uploading, you name it and i did it. Look at me, you will think my age is around 37, but in fact i am 178.
He took off his jacket and showed me some very advanced piece of technology.
-Titanium exoskeleton, bionic eye, taste buds and ear, unlimited uploading space on the cloud and much more. But the real reason i am here is a second chance. In our world i am the most wanted person. It was a huge debate about morality versus technological immortality. In the end the church won. Every major company in biotechnology research was closed. Life extension was banned. I just wanted you to find about us. And make your choice.
Saying this he just put his hoodie and made his way into the crowded street. I was thinking about his words. And i decided. I put the pill on my tongue, and i swallow it with a bit of water. I was always thinking that in life doesn't matter how long you breathe, but how many times you had you breath taken away.

Quantum leap

What do we want?
Time travel.
When do we want it?
Is irrelevant.

Today's nonsense

* I found a nice website about famous battles in the history. Click here for more.
http://www.theartofbattle.com/

** If you want to read a book about James Bond early years look for "Silverfin" by Charlie Higson.

*** The saddest thing to say : I have no opportunity to do what i do best because of my work. Or because i need to sleep. Or i need to walk the dog. Or whatever. For a solution click here.

**** Initiating versus responding. What we do most in our life? Are we the one to initiate or the one to respond to what other are initiating? Think about. And change if needed.

Quote of the day

“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”
– Vincent T. Lombardi

Learn Japanese in 8 hours

Thursday i got a day off, so i will try an experiment. I will listen to 8 CD with 12-15 lesson each in Japanese for beginners and i will see what happen. I will have a 15 minutes break between each CD played, when i will do some yoga relaxation and meditation. What i really want to see is how i can apply the 80/20 rule (understanding 80% of what i hear knowing 20% of the language - the most used 1000 words). If i find a Japanese i will even try to speak with him. That should be fun.

I will tell you what happen.

Who want to have all the time in the world?

The ancients said that the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now. What we learn from this? Let's say that we always dreamed to be free, to have all the money we need, and to have time to spend with friends, family and loved ones, or just to do whatever drives us, to follow the passion in our life. We need to go to work, you will say, we need to get our wages! What if it is a way for all this? What if...

Go to earlyretirementinuk.blogspot.co.uk and read more. You can thank me later.

The Elfs are not dead. Yet.

Did you ever heard about the Elfdalian language? I did on my last holiday in Norway. What is that, you would ask?

Elfdalian or Övdalian is a North Germanic language or dialect spoken by c. 2,000 people who live or have grown up in the parish of Älvdalen (Övdaln), which is located in the southeastern part of Älvdalen Municipality in Northern Dalarna, Sweden.
Like the other Nordic languages, Elfdalian developed from Old Norse, a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300. It developed in relative isolation since the Middle Ages and is considered to have remained closer to Old Norse than the other Dalecarlian dialects.
Traditionally regarded as a Swedish dialect, Elfdalian is today regarded as a separate language by several linguists.
Elfdalian (älvdalska in Swedish and övdalsk in the language itself) sounds like something you would more likely encounter in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings rather than in a remote Swedish forest. But the small town of Älvdalen, which gives the language its name, is not an Elven outpost. It is one of the last strongholds of an ancient tongue that preserves much of Old Norse, the language of the Vikings. And it is now to be taught in the town’s preschools for the first time in September, marking a small victory for a group campaigning for its preservation.

Elfdalian is currently used only by about 2,500 people, but is a treasure trove for linguists. Hidden between the trees and hills, it has preserved linguistic features that are to be found nowhere else in Scandinavia, and that had already disappeared from Old Norse by 1200AD. Elfdalian has, for instance, preserved nasal vowels that disappeared elsewhere. Nasal vowels are well-known from French, as in un bon vin blanc (“a good white wine”), but not from the modern Nordic languages. In Old Norse, nasal vowels are only found in a single manuscript from 12th-century Iceland, but linguists never thought much of it – until it was discovered that modern day Elfdalian has nasal vowels in the exact same words. Because of its relative isolation, Elfdalian evolved in an entirely different direction than the modern Scandinavian languages. Its sounds, grammar and vocabulary differ radically from Swedish. So, while speakers of Swedish, Danish and Norwegian can easily understand each other in simple conversations, Elfdalian is completely unintelligible to Swedes who are not from the area. For centuries, it was unnecessary for the majority of the native Elfdalian-speaking population to learn standard Swedish, as the economic networks were locally-oriented and there was no compulsory schooling in Swedish until the mid-1800s. As a result, Elfdalian remained a vigorous language until well into the 20th century. The situation changed dramatically in the past century, however. With increased mobility and the arrival of mass media, Elfdalian came under threat from Swedish, which steadily encroached upon more and more aspects of daily life. Speakers of the language were stigmatised, and children were actively discouraged to use it at school. As a result, speakers of Elfdalian shifted to Swedish in droves, especially in the past couple of decades. At present, only half of the inhabitants of Älvdalen speak it, and of the youngest generation, only about 60 children under the age of 15 are fluent. (Source of the information: University of Copenhagen linguist Dr. Guus Kroonen)

But awareness rise and more and more people find about this language, and you can find even a very active Facebook page. Many are trying to preserve it, despite the Swedish authorities lack of interest.

Click here for your first lesson, or if you want to hear it.

Good luck.



P.S. And by the way, they use runes instead of letters. How cool is that?

Quote of the day

“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.” – Oscar Wilde