Global Cooling

So much for global warming: It's 16 degrees here with temperatures on their way to the single digits. It was a good thing while it lasted.

U.S. Real Estate Market: Apocalypse Now

This Denver Post article examines the hangover caused by the real estate boom in Colorado, the state with the nation's worst foreclosure rate, "When foreclosures overwhelm a neighborhood, homeowners anxiously watch their own property values decline as lenders unload houses at discounted prices. Many foreclosed homes sit vacant for months. Police get vandalism and vagrancy calls. Church leaders see membership fall while food-bank demands rise. School principals find two or even three families sharing single-family houses. " http://www.denverpost.com/ci_4719353

High Runners?

Endorphins' role in "runner's high" has been dismissed, but a University of Beirut neuroscientist believes that he has identified the biological agent responsible for the feelings of calm and euphoria often reported by endurance athletes. The substance works on the same brain receptors as the psychoactive agent THC. "The natural chemical was discovered in 1992. It's called anandamide, from the Sanskrit word for "bliss." Anandamide is very similar to THC, and it produces pleasant feelings of relaxation and pain cessation similar to those often described by runners and pot smokers." http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-243-297--1102-0,00.html

I love global warming

We're having a heat wave here in the North Star state, and I'm enjoying every minute of it. My family's Thanksgiving traditions - skating, broomball, ice fishing, maybe even cross country skiing - were usurped by activities more common in Tennessee or Arkansas this time of year. This afternoon, my husband and I played 9 holes of golf with my dad. The guys played well: Dad shot a 46 and my husband shot 43. I, on the other hand, was plagued by the rust on my golf clubs and struggled for five holes but finished the round on a strong note. As delightful as it was to play golf in Minnesota the day after Thanksgiving, it was a sad occasion, too. Not only is this likely the last time I golf with Dad this year, it may well be the last time I golf with him ever. After our round of golf, we built a campfire on the beach at my parent’s house and had a picnic. My two year old niece wanted was undeterred by the ice covering the lake and wanted to go for a swim. I have never seen the lake level so low. They are having a serious drought up there.

Have another glass of red wine this Thanksgiving

This New York Times article explains why endurance athletes should drink more (red wine, that is.) "An ordinary laboratory mouse will run one kilometer on a treadmill before collapsing from exhaustion. But mice given resveratrol, a minor component of red wine and other foods, run twice as far. They also have energy-charged muscles and a reduced heart rate, just as trained athletes do, according to an article published online in Cell by Johan Auwerx and colleagues at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology in Illkirch, France." http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/17/health/17drug.html

Morneau named AL MVP!

Yesterday, Justin Morneau was selected as the 2006 AL MVP. Check out this article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune for all the good details: http://www.startribune.com/509/story/826943.html