Snippets:
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DVD: Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance (1983). 87 min. Directed by Godfrey Reggio. Music by Philip Glass. A piece of art, telling a story of nature, man, and technology. No actors, no words, just a stream of images and music. Most scenes might just as well be still photographs. Large portion of the film is made in time lapse mode, showing motions in accelerated fashion, thereby creating interesting effects. Title from Hopi Indian language: ko-yaa-nis-qa-tsi: n. 1. crazy life. 2. life in turmoil. 3. life out of balance. 4. life disintegrating. 5. a state of life that calls for another way of living. Life out of balance. Some spectacular scenes, but too long at times. The music is rather annoying, repetitive and monotonous. Overall rating: 5 out of 10.
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Literature: Librivox. Free audio books of classics recorded by amateur readers. Good selection.
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Art/Science: Bodies: The Exhibition. Southstreet Seaport at the Exhibition Center, NYC. $24.50. Showcase of human bodies, body parts and organs, preserved and prepared through a procedure called plastination. Principle: Remove water and fats from the tissue and replace them with polymers, through an intermediate step using acetone. Acetone is replaced by polymer in a vaccum chamber ('forced vacuum impregnation'). Complete exchange takes few days for thin slices, but weeks for whole bodies. Technique developed by Gunther von Hagens, Germany, in 1978. Von Hagens exhibits his specimen in different venues.
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Thought: Two useful qualities: Diversity and moderation.
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DVD: Million Dollar Baby (2004). 132 min. Directed by Clint Eastwood. w/ Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman. Woman (Swank) is determined to become a boxing champion, and is supported by a headstrong trainer (Eastwood). Story takes a U-turn, when she gets severely injured during a fight. Movie well done, but too focused on boxing genre. Some critical points (e.g. assisted suicide) are treated too superficially. Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
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Poetry: Poetry Archive. Collection of poets reading their own work. Also some historic readings. Unfortunately, audio is not downloadable.
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Technology: Skype. Free Internet phone. Also, with SkypeOut, an ordinary phone line can be called, and with SkypeIn, customer receives a regular phone number to be called by any phone. Charges apply.
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Science: Oliver Sacks, a neurologist at New York University (NYU), Mt. Sinai Medical Center, is preparing a new book on memory and music. Recent interview at Science Friday. Described Clive Wearing, who suffers from severe amnesia since a herpes simplex encephalitis in 1985. Can only remember the last 5-30 seconds. Lives entirely in the present. Curiously, his musical memory is intact, i.e. he can play entire tunes on the piano, and even conduct an orchestra.
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Medicine: Cognitive reserve and lifestyle. "The concept of cognitive reserve (CR) suggests that innate intelligence or aspects of life experience like educational or occupational attainments may supply reserve, in the form of a set of skills or repertoires that allows some people to cope with progressing Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology better than others. There is epidemiological evidence that lifestyle characterized by engagement in leisure activities of intellectual and social nature is associated with slower cognitive decline in healthy elderly and may reduce the risk of incident dementia. There is also evidence from functional imaging studies that subjects engaging in such leisure activities can clinically tolerate more AD pathology. It is possible that aspects of life experience like engagement in leisure activities may result in functionally more efficient cognitive networks and therefore provide a CR that delays the onset of clinical manifestations of dementia." Scarmeas N, Stern Y., J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2003 Aug;25(5):625-33.
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