- Feel like you’re sleepwalking through life? You just might
be, according to a new study conducted at Stanford University. Study author
Maurice Ohayon, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford
Sleep Epidemiology Research Center, and his team analyzed sleep data and habits
and found that nearly 30 percent of adults in the United States have
experienced nighttime wanderings, and those with sleep apnea or psychiatric
disorders such as depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder are at higher
risk. The study of 19,136 Americans ages 18 and older also discovered that antidepressants,
sleeping pills and certain other medications can increase the risk and also appear
to bring on events in people with a history of sleepwalking. "I would like
to correct the impression that sleepwalking is rare," Ohayon said. "This
is a huge number of people." Participants took a phone survey in which
they were asked questions about their sleep habits, general health, medications
and mental disorders. Assuming these people were honest and not simply looking
to jerk with a scientific study, their responses showed that people who
wandered at night at least once during the year were more likely to have a
family history of sleepwalking. Their wandering ways also showed a significant
effect on quality sleep time for family members. "Their partners will wake
up in the morning and tell them about it. It can be very disruptive to others,
while the person walking at night can be quite unaware," Ohayon explained.
He believes this is the first study to look at how many people sleepwalk, how
often and why. His team also learned that men and women are just as likely to
sleepwalk, that 3.6 percent of those who have done so have done it in the past
year, 2.6 percent sleepwalked between one and 12 episodes in the past year and
1 percent had two or more episodes in a month. There have not been any studies
on sleepwalking’s long-term effects, but Ohayon believes such research is
necessary because it increases injury risk and disrupts the sleep of others. "You
can't have anyone, especially older people, wandering around because they could
fall and hurt themselves," he said. A tranquilizer dart right
before bed usually does the trick, or a padlock on the door………….
- Thanks for getting around to that, Myanmar. After covertly
purchasing weapons from North Korea for the past 20 years, the country formerly
known as Burma will stop the practice, according to Myanmar President Thein Sein. Sein promised South Korean President Lee
Myung-bak that his country will no longer buy weapons from North Korea while
admitting that such purchases have been common over the past two decades. However,
Sein denied that his country ever
had nuclear cooperation with North Korea. Any agreements with Pyongyang were for
conventional weapons, Lee's presidential Blue House said in an announcement
Tuesday. But if Sein is to be believed, Myanmar will no longer buy weapons from
North Korea, honoring a U.N. ban. Lee is making an official visit to Myanmar,
the first by a South Korean president since North Korean commandos carried out
a bloody attack against visiting South Korean dignitaries in 1983. Myanmar cut
off diplomatic relations with North Korea after the attack, but doubled back in
2007 because it desperately needed friends as it faced sanctions for its human
rights violations and failure to install a democratic government. There were
also allegations that Myanmar obtained nuclear weapons technology from
Pyongyang, although those rumors have never been confirmed. Now that it is
attempting to emerge from years of , Myanmar is dumping its friend of
convenience to curry favor with the world. Lee also took time out of his visit to
visit with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, recently freed after nearly 20
years under house arrest and newly elected to Parliament. Her involvement is
supposed to be landmark as Myanmar takes steps toward democracy. Abiding by a U.N.
resolution barring countries from obtaining all but small arms and light
weapons from North Korea would probably help in boosting its global perception.
Of course, all of these decisions would have been far better if Myanmar had
made them of its own volition, with no self-serving motives behind them…………
- Wes Welker has clearly never read “The Art of War.” Sun
Tzu would definitely not approve of Welker giving up his position of power by
admitting that despite his current contract squabble with the New England Patriots, he won't miss any
regular-season games. During a radio interview in Boston, he was quizzed about
whether he would hold out and miss games rather than sign the one-year, $9.5
million offer the team has made after using its franchise tag on him. The tag
allows teams to keep one valued player per offseason with whom they cannot
reach agreement on a new contract and for that one year, the player is paid a
salary that is at least the average of the five highest-paid players at their
position in the NFL. Players hate the tag because it prevents them from
becoming a free agent and signing a more lucrative long-term deal with another
team. "There are 9.5 million reasons why I wouldn't miss any
regular-season games," Welker said. Previously, Welker had spoken about
offseason activities and expressed a reluctance to take part without a new
deal. "I'm thinking I'm probably not going to [attend the camp], but
things could change,” he said last month when asked about the Patriots'
mandatory minicamp, which will be held June 12-14. He seemed to soften his
stance Monday, suggesting that he may skip offseason activities but will not
miss games. I think we're still kind of waiting, but I'd really like to be
there," Welker explained. "I don't know. To say I'm going one way or
another right now, I'm not going to say it's definite or anything like that,
but I would definitely like to be at those minicamps for sure." He went
into typical Patriots cliché-speak when asked how negotiations on a long term
deal were progressing, saying, “"I think we're all on the same page and
we're all trying to collectively come together and make something happen."
He maintained that his relationships with owner Robert Kraft and coach Bill
Belichick are good and that he’s looking forward to the upcoming season………
- Duuuuuude, this is totally uncool, Santa Monica city
officials. The Santa Monica pier is a place where bros and chicks from all over
SoCal come to relax, enjoy beautiful people and be part of the freak show. The
last thing any of them need is the city installing over 6,000 new high-tech meters that wipe out the possibility of free
parking if someone leaves before their meter expires and someone else snags
their spot. Sadly, these new meters use ground sensors to wipe out any extra
time left over after a car vacates the spot or the posted time limit expires.
Sure, the so-called smart meters will also alert drivers by text message when
their meter is close to running out and that’s all right, but these new sensors
also mean that drivers will no longer be able to run back and feed the meter to
keep their cars parked over the allotted initial time limit. That practice
currently carries a $64 fine measured by chalking tires. So why the change?
City officials argue that the new meters should improve parking availability.
Whatever, bros. Going green with solar-powered meters drivers can pay for using
credit card, phone or coin seems like a great idea and they may indeed raise as
much as $1.7 million in revenue for the city, but at what cost? There are few
more pleasant surprises in life than finding a parking meter with 10 extra
minutes on it. Santa Monica just became a little less cool……….
- It’s back to the roots for Baltimore electro-psychedelic rockers Animal Collective. With their new album “Centipede
Hz” set for release in September, the band is talking about the process that
led to the finished product and how it differs from their past few albums. Interestingly
enough, their previous few albums have been assembled in piecemeal fashion,
with members in different locations swapping contributions back and forth. "We
all moved back to Baltimore, the last few records we've written apart and by
sending each other stuff. This time we all wanted to write in the same room
together. We went back to our roots and we got a little practice space in this
barn on Josh's [Dibb – fellow band member] mum's property and it was like being
a garage band again," percussionist Brian Weitz said in explaining how
“Centipede” will differ from their 2009 effort 'Merriweather Post Pavillion”
and the band’s 2010 "visual
album" “ODDSAC.”
Amazingly, “Centipede” will be the 10th album of the
band’s career and according to Weitz, it was written "as a rock band in a
room.” He called the change “going back to our roots” and moving away from the
sample-heavy direction of “Merriweather Post Pavilion.” Distortion-heavy is
another way to describe Animal Collective’s past few albums and the quartet
decided to go back to their roots this time around. Oddly enough, the reason
for doing so might actually be an aversion to the fame and growing recognition
their new style brought them.
Weitz theorized that he and his bandmates may have been uncomfortable if
Animal Collective got any more high profile. The insurgence of festival offers
and media attention were more than they were prepared for, Weitz said, and they
wanted to go back to the garage rock aesthetic. "The reaction to
'Merriweather Post Pavilion' wasn't out of hand, but as the shows and festivals
got bigger and we got media attention, that was something we'll have to come to
grips with. I don't know we'd be comfortable getting any bigger than that. It
wasn't a burden though,” he explained. To build interest for “Centipede,” the
band will release a two-track single next month featuring songs titled “Gotham”
and “Honeycomb,” which should give fans an idea of what the new album will
sound like when the single is released on June 26 via digital download and on
7'' vinyl. The band hasn’t announced whether either of the tracks will be
featured on the album itself, but the overall sound should be drastically
different either way…………
oAnimal Collective will precede the release of their new album with. The
tracks, which are titled 'Gotham' and 'Honeycomb', will be It is unknown
whether either track will feature on 'Centipede Hz', but you can hear them both
by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking.
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