Breathing Space Each Day

A riveting article in Wall Street Journal, discussed how some people think they can fly off to a spa, have two weeks of idyllic living, come back, and be ready to go. A growing body of research, however, suggests that this approach is wrong and that multi-millions of people manage stress incorrectly. They stress out all day and defer relaxation to isolated blocks of time, such as evening yoga classes and weekend trips.

The problem with this approach to stress management is that the relentless exposure to daily, chronic anxiety is the most toxic form of stress. The body releases chemicals under high stress that can damage the immune system and increase the risk of all types of illness. Stress can harm neurons in the brain, hamper sexual performance, and even lead to heart attacks and premature death.

The conclusion from these findings: people need breathing space throughout the day, every day.

"Public" Discourse and Disclosure

A report from the Associated Press is distressing. "We're the YouTube Generation, living in the YouTube Era, in a YouTube World. And now we apparently have a YouTube Divorce. Some
prominent New York divorce lawyers couldn't think of another case where a spouse -- in this instance, the wife of a major Broadway theater operator -- had taken to YouTube to spill the secrets of a marriage in an apparent effort to gain leverage and humiliate the other side."

"This is absolutely a new step, and I think it's scary," said Bonnie Rabin, a divorce lawyer who has handled high-profile cases. "People used to worry about getting on page six of the New York Post, the gossip page. But this? It brings the concept of humiliation to a whole new level."

Jeff's take: if only it would stop here. From high school beatings, to beheadings, to crime sprees, to what have you, the level of public discourse and disclosure is taking some severe and sordid turns. Should we all now tread as if candid camera is lurking around every corner?

Pervasive Technology Overload

Here is a timely article that ran on 200 NBC TV news affiliates on the growing phenomena of something we all face, technology overload.

The news story is accompanied by a short video: once you're on the NBC site, click on the little red camera to the right of the screen.

No Joy in Heavy Personal Debt

An AP report indicates that "Americans are falling behind on their credit card payments at an alarming rate, sending delinquencies and defaults surging by double- digit percentages in the last year and prompting warnings of worse to come." Analysis of financial data from the country's largest card issuers also found that the greatest rise was among accounts more than 90 days in arrears.

Racking up heavy personal debt is the antithesis to Breathing Space!

To Your Health!

Health links worth visiting;

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16933166

www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2006/hmprobiotics.htm

www.squidoo.com/netipotnasalwash

www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/08/31/earlyshow/saturday/main3226777.shtml

Jail Time for Cell Phone Drivers

An article in the London Telegraph by David Millward and Christopher Hope reports that "Motorists caught using a hand-held mobile phone while driving could be jailed for two years under tough new guidelines issued today by prosecutors. Drivers who adjust sat-navs, tinker with MP3 music players such as iPods or send text messages at the wheel could also face prison sentences."

"Prosecutions will be brought if by using the equipment a motorist is judged to have posed a danger to other drivers, such as causing another car to swerve. Using a hand-held mobile while driving was outlawed in 2003, but it is estimated that half a million motorists flout the ban each day."

"Existing guidelines restricted prosecutors to pursuing only a charge of careless driving, for which the maximum fine is $10,000 along with up to nine points on a motorist's license. But under the new rules, drivers could be charged with dangerous driving, which carries a maximum sentence of two years in jail."


I has heartened to learn that U.K. police now check mobile phone records after road collisions to see if the driver was making a call. An excellent move and one that will help guard other people's Breathing Space.

Cell Phones ARE Dangerous

I've said it for years: talking on a cell phone demands your sharp attention and hence it is dangerous to employ a cell phone around vehicles. Now "indisputable" evidence confirms my observation. Steve Rubenstein in The San Francisco Chronicle reports that "A pedestrian apparently absorbed in a cell phone call was struck and killed by an Amtrak train in San Leandro today after he walked around a lowered crossing gate and onto the tracks."

"The victim, a man who was not immediately identified, was struck at 12:30 p.m. by a northbound Capitol Corridor train at the Alvarado Street crossing, about 8 miles south of the Oakland station... None of the 20 passengers or crew aboard the train was injured. That train and two others were delayed and another Capitol Corridor train was cancelled."

"Crew members aboard the Sacramento-bound train told authorities they saw the victim talking on the cell phone before he was struck, Graham said. The warning lights and gates at the crossing were functioning properly."

No Smoking: Real Breathing Space

USA TODAY reporter Wend Koch writes that "Lawmakers in two California cities are casting votes this month on unprecedented legislation that would widen a growing voluntary movement by landlords and resident associations to ban smoking inside apartments and condos."

"Tens of thousands of apartments and condos have gone smoke-free in the past five years, management companies and health activists say."

Percentage of the U.S. adult population who smoke based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention :
• 1965: 42.4%
• 1970: 37.4%
• 1974: 37.1%
• 1980: 33.2%
• 1985: 30.1%
• 1990: 25.5%
• 1995: 24.7%
• 2001: 22.8%
• 2004: 20.9%

Human Billboards on the Loose

My home town newspaper, the Chapel Hill News, which seems to have an ongoing convoluted social agenda, recently glorified two college students who got tattoos which enabled them to get a discount on cups of coffee at a local coffee shop. Anthropologist Margaret Mead referred to tattoos and body piercing as self-mutilation. While the two young people, with a strong yen for coffee (or is it addiction to the psychotropic drug caffeine?) were exalted in the article for becoming human billboards, the rest of Chapel Hill's students were potentially exposed to more bizarre behavior, sanctioned by the home-town newspaper.

Here's what the newspaper article and other articles like don't seem to include:

1) Tattoos, however seemingly cool initially, can become god-awful looking over time, and what you thought was nifty at age 20 can appear ridiculous at 30 or 40.

2) The tattoo removal business is thriving. Removal, however, can be painful, involved, and costly, possibly exceedingly $1000, with only semi-satisfactory results.

3) What if the sponsoring coffee shop doesn't stay in business?

4) Many workplace policies don't permit tattoos or piercings unless they're under cover. Having tattoos can limit or end your career prospects, reports USA Today. Many companies are concerned about how much contact their "modified" employees will have with customers.

One local medical supplier requires employees in the field to cover tattoos and remove facial piercings. Walt Disney World, in its "cast" appearance policy, permits employee tattoos only if they can be covered with opaque makeup, not a bandage. Caribou Coffee (O! the irony) does not allow "facial jewelry" or visible tattoos.

PetSmart allows only covered tattoos. In the hot, steamy climate of Houston, Texas, law enforcement officers must wear winter clothing year-round to cover what would otherwise be visible tattoos with short sleeves.

Employers say that it's "a matter of professionalism." Applicants who aim to serve the public must keep the public's trust and confidence in mind. Would you trust an officer who appears to frequent the nearest biker bar?

If you land a job in an air-conditioned office and it's possible to wear long sleeves all year long, maybe you can get away with tattoos on your arms, chest, or back. However, what about a company picnic, a company baseball game, or some other outing? And do you want to wear long sleeves in the summer for the rest of your career?

As for the Chapel Hill News, what's next? A front-page, top-of-the-fold feature on getting eyebrow rings for discount prices on donuts? Please! Give us some Breathing Space from such lame-brain articles.

I Can't Get no Satisfaction?

Chris Michaud writing in the New York Post says "A surprising 94 percent of Americans say they are satisfied with their lives -- although far fewer in New York and other Eastern states think they're better off than they were five years ago, according to a new survey."

"The Harris Poll of more than 1,000 people reported the overall 'satisfaction' level, defined as people who said they were either very or somewhat satisfied with their lot, was up 4 percentage points, from 90 percent two years ago. But only 42 percent of people in the Eastern U.S. said things had improved since 2002. By contrast, 60 percent of Southerners and 62 percent of Westerners said their lives had improved."

Hmmmm, so ignore the New York Times and the other eastern media elite, and you have a better chance of grasping current reality

China Flagrantly Overpopulates

From the BBC and the Xinhua news agency:
China's top family planning body has warned of a "population rebound" as couples flout one child policy rules. The widening wealth gap could lead to a rise in birth rates. Newly rich couples can afford to pay fines to have more than one child, while rural couples are marrying earlier.

China is keen to curb its population growth, and the controversial family planning policy, implemented in the late 1970s, is meant to limit urban couples to one child and rural families to two. But rising incomes mean that some newly rich couples in urban areas can easily afford to break the rules and pay the resulting fines. However, the number of rich people and celebrities having more than one child was on a rapid increase, and nearly 10% of people in this category had three children.

In the countryside, too, the rules are being flouted... because of the traditional preference for sons. Experts say this preference has led to the under-reporting of female births, as well as abortion of female fetuses and female infanticide. By the end of 2006, China's population stood at 1,314,480,000, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, with males accounting for 51.5% of the population.

Lobbyists Fanning the Flames

The Washington Post reports that the number of registered lobbyists in Washington, D.C., has more than doubled since 2000, to nearly 35,000. Starting salaries for lobbyists with prior experience on Capitol Hill or in the White House have risen from $200,000 a year to $300,000.

My goodness, is it any wonder that every issue these days seems to be incendiary? There are thousands of high-priced lobbyists fanning the flames every minute of every day. What a world.

Foolish Highway Games

NBC Channel 10 in Phildelphia recently reported that "New Jersey legislators pushed forward a plan to make it illegal to text message while driving. The Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee voted unanimously to release the proposal after several legislators admitted frequently firing off text messages while behind the wheel, even though they know doing so is dangerous."

"Assemblyman Paul Moriarty acknowledges doing it himself, but he's not proud of it. 'It's very, very dangerous,' he said. Citing that risk, the Democratic assemblyman wants to stop motorists from sending text messages while driving."

"'It's more dangerous than talking on a cell phone because I believe you can keep your eyes on the road when talking on a cell phone,' Moriarty said. That's not the case when typing and sending text messages, he said. 'I only assume they're using their knees to drive,' Moriarty said."

Junk Mail Beyond the Pale

This story in Newsweek, “Dear Junk Mailers: Leave My Son Alone,” speaks volumes about the junk mail industry in our society. Thirteen years after the death of a seven year old boy, advertisers still target him with offers of tuxedos and snack cakes. Repulsive and sad.

Parent Gary Wiener, writing in Newsweek: “When his 18th birthday arrived, my son, Jacob, became awfully popular. The U.S. Navy wanted him. "Before you find your place in the world, maybe you should see it first," it urged. A local menswear shop offered him 50 percent off a tuxedo package for high-school graduation. And a razor company sent him a free razor, hoping, I suppose, to make a lifelong customer out of him. Their only miscalculation was that Jacob didn't shave. Nor was it likely that any of the armed forces would gain Jacob's services. And he certainly wouldn't graduate from high school. Jacob, you see, died in 1993. He was only 7 years old when a cancerous brain tumor stole him from us.”

“As much as we loved Jacob, that period of our lives is still incredibly painful to remember. Yet, years after his death, letters addressed to Jacob find their way into our mailbox. Early on, I was driven almost to tears by these inducements for our son to attend a ritzy local private school or to sample a particular snack cake. I knew my wife would be devastated by such mail, and I tried to get to the mailbox first so that she would never be affronted by envelopes addressed to her dead first child. Much later, I realized she had been doing the same thing, hastily throwing out mail addressed to Jake so I wouldn't have to endure the epistolary abuse.”

Ease Up on Your Workout

Don’t work out so hard that you do lasting harm to yourself: The following news brief appeared in Newsday.com:

At nearly 60, injuries are taking a toll on Arnold: Time is catching up with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Ordinarily, a politician's body would not be noteworthy. But what's happening now is the deconstruction of one of the greatest bodies ever. At 15, Schwarzenegger began transforming himself into a symbol of physical perfection, eventually winning more bodybuilding prizes than anyone in history… Referring to himself as the "bionic man," he finds himself with an artificial hip, reconstructed heart valves, a surgically repaired shoulder and a badly broken femur, an injury common among the elderly.

Deluded by too much TV!

Study Finds Japanese Watch Most TV

The average level of television consumption increased on nearly every continent last year, but a new study has found that Japanese viewers watch more TV than anybody.

The report from Eurodata TV Worldwide, the focus of a panel discussion at the MIPTV convention in Cannes, also found Americans' daily dose of TV climbed by three minutes last year to an average of four hours and 28 minutes -- nearly 90 minutes above the world average.

The Japanese watched the most television last year, clocking in a daily average of five hours. Americans were second, followed by Argentinians and the Greeks, who consumed four hours and 25 minutes and four hours and four minutes, respectively. At 2 1/2 hours daily each, China and Sweden watched the least amount of television last year.

Even though dramas accounted for 46 percent of viewers' time overall, and made a comeback stateside, American fiction failed to dominate outside of the domestic marketplace as it has in years past.

The MIP conference heard that the Eurodata document reveals that 46 percent of viewing time was dedicated to drama, 36 percent to other entertainment categories (talk, comedy, and variety shows) and 18 percent to news. Additionally, in terms of new formats, NBC's "The Apprentice" appeared to have found the most purchase globally.

News Buyers Beware

News, by its nature, tends to be negative; there are not many programs or headlines that say that 5,000,000 people in North Carolina went to bed happy last night. Those stories do not sell newspapers or keep audiences interested. Mainstream journalism tends to cover the titillating and the sensational, like the floods, the fires, the drug wars.

It is unfortunate that these events take place, but if you let them continually bombard your psyche, then you will start to believe that the catastrophes are the only things that happen. You have to give yourself recurring sanctuaries: A day off, a weekend off, an evening off, an hour off, a few minutes in the morning. Where is it written that people have to jump up and turn on "Good Morning America?"