- Maybe the bohemian, free-spirited weirdos sitting
cross-legged, clasping their hands in weird ways and chanting indecipherable
things do know what they’re doing. That’s according to a new study on mindfulness
meditation published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study, a systematic review and meta-analysis led by experts at Johns
Hopkins University, found that meditation may help ease anxiety and depression
in certain patients. In some cases, the researchers found that the practice may
even be as effective as taking anti-depressant medications. The Johns Hopkins
researchers reviewed 47 randomized clinical trials with 3,515 participants and although
a review of scientific literature found that the effects of meditation are
limited, Dr. Allan Goroll believes meditation has some value…sort of. "Contrary
to popular belief, the studies overall failed to show much benefit from
meditation with regard to relief of suffering or improvement in overall
health," Goroll said. "With the important exception that mindfulness
meditation provided a small but possibly meaningful degree of relief from
psychological distress." The research team found little or no evidence of
meditation's impact on positive mood, attention, substance use, eating habits,
sleep and weight – but they still seemed to like it. For those not in the know,
mindfulness meditation is a form of Buddhist self-awareness designed to focus
attention to the moment at hand. "The evidence suggests that mindfulness
meditation programs could help reduce anxiety, depression, and pain in some
clinical populations," the researchers’ findings read. Unfortunately, the
only patients who received these benefits did not have full-blown anxiety or
depression. Now that’s definitely something to sit down and ponder…….
- It could be time to stop accusing France of being a bunch
of white flag-waving surrenderers who shun confrontation on principle so they
can enjoy another croissant and bottle of fine wine. To prove that they’re
willing to get their hands dirty, about 100 angry workers at a Goodyear tire
factory in Amiens barricaded two plant executives inside the building overnight
to protest the impending loss of 1,250 jobs. Union-backed employees used large
farm tires to barricade site director Michel Dheilly and human resources
manager Bernard Glesser in a room following a meeting over lay-off pay and kept
the executives there until police arrived at the plant and freed Dheilly
and Glesser just before 4 p.m. local time. The scene was a chaotic
one as a car ferried the bosses through a large crowd gathered outside the
factory and the angry workers sprung into action. The livid mob set fire to €100,000 of
high-end tires being stored at the plant, sending a plume of think black smoke
into the air above the building. Goodyear confirmed the details of the
situation, but did not address what possible impact it would have on its
long-running plans to close or sell the plant. The company refused to negotiate
with the General Confederation of Labour (GCT) union, which organized the
“boss-napping,” until Dheilly and Glesser were freed. Union chiefs from CGT are
demanding lay-off pay to be increased for the employees set to lose
their jobs at the plant, specifically a 300-percent increase from 20,000 euro
to 80,000 euro (from $27,000 to $108,000). In response, Goodyear claimed the €80,000 figure
was the same as a lay-off package it offered employees as part of
restructuring in 2012, which CGT refused. After the executives’ release, CGT
released a statement that didn’t exactly strike a conciliatory tone. "We
just want to continue to work and not swell the ranks of the unemployed and
marginalized, and if for that we have to resort to extreme methods, we won't
hesitate to do that,” the union said in its statement. Keep fighting The Man,
French people………
- Maybe the world can forgive longtime University of Texas
athletic booster/jock sniffer Red McCombs
for his actions while suffering from an uncontrollable attack of
I’m-Rich-With-A-Side-Effect-of-Inflated-Self-Importance. After all, why else
would this old, white dude with no tangible link to the program itself be doing
interviews slamming the solid head coaching hire his favorite college football
team? McCombs, the former owner of the San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets and
Minnesota Vikings and co-founder of Clear Channel Communications, slammed the
Longhorns’ decision to hire coach Charlie Strong away from Louisville, calling
it a "kick in the face" during a radio interview. "I think the
whole thing is a bit sideways," McCombs said. "I don't have any doubt
that Charlie is a fine coach. I think he would make a great position coach,
maybe a coordinator. But I don't believe [he belongs at] what should be one of
the three most powerful university programs in the world right now at
UT-Austin. I don't think it adds up." Set aside any ideas of racism on
this one because there is no overt evidence of that and focus merely on the
dismissive idiocy of a fool who believes that a coach who just went 23-3 and
won two top-tier bowl games at a legitimate Top 25 program. McCombs has zero
credibility when it comes to evaluating football coaches, yet feels his immense
monetary contributions to UT qualify him to weigh in on the hire. He also seems
willfully ignorant of the fact that none of the Longhorns’ other choices wanted
the job. McCombs lobbied for former NFL coach and ESPN analyst Jon Gruden, but
Gruden wasn’t interested. Neither were Alabama coach Nick Saban, UCLA coach Jim
Mora or Baylor coach Art Briles. The piece de resistance from McCombs’
misguided rant is his assertion that he and his fellow boosters have the
football acumen to make the hire instead of the university. "I think it is
a kick in the face," McCombs said. "Beyond the fact of what actually
happened. We have boosters that have a lot of knowledge about the game.” No
Red, you have boosters with lots of money and one in particular with a warped
sense of his actual importance………
- How cold has it been in the majority of the United States
over the past week? So cold that an auto parts store employee is actually
jumping the cars of people who couldn’t get their whip to start up in the midst
of the polar vortex sweeping the nation. Brad McKorical, who works at 4th Avenue Auto Sales
in Moline, Ill., has been besieged with calls from people who need help getting
their ride riding again in sub-zero temperatures. As the weather turned
lethally cold, McKorical decided to get his inner good Samaritan on. He posted
a Facebook message offering to volunteer his expertise for anyone who needed a
jump start for their car. “(I thought) ‘We should put something on Facebook and
go out and see who needs some help,’ so that’s what we did,” McKorical said.
Given that people absolutely love anything that’s free whether they need it or
not, there was no way that offer wasn’t going viral in five minutes and that’s
exactly what happened. Shortly after the post went up on the store’s Facebook
page, the responses began rolling in. With the requests piling up, McKorical
headed out at 10 a.m. on Monday to several homes to help those in need. The
recipients of his help included a nurse who was stranded at home and needed to
get to her patients, but McKorical said he did what he did simply because it
was the right thing. “I was always taught by my parents to help people,” he
added. Hopefully the people of Moline enjoyed this dose of random kindness because
once the weather warms back up, it’s back to buying your own jumper cables and
new batteries………
- The theme for Grammy Awards performers this year seems to
be crafting the oddest musical mash-ups possible in the hopes of distracting
the public from the fact that 90 percent of the nominees totally suck. In this
respect, count the supposed biggest night in music as a success. The most
curious pairing for the night is Metallica jamming with Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang. Metallica
will be performing at the Grammys for the first time in 23 years and they will
temporarily share the stage with Lang, who last performed at the bash in 2008.
The ceremony will take place Jan. 26 at Staples Center and considering the rest
of the hacks lined up to take the stage, one of the greatest rock bands of the
last half-century teaming with an obscure Chinese pianist who will momentarily
make the crowd feel really good about themselves for pretending they’ve bridged
some major cultural gap is actually a great choice. Other performers who have
been announced include 17-year-old flavor of the moment Lorde, the always awful
Katy Perry, the wildly overrated Daft Punk, Pharrell and Nile Rodgers and
Kendrick Lamar, who will perform with Imagine Dragons. To add a dimension of
“What the hell does that have to do with anything?” to the night, Eurythmics
will reunite to pay tribute to The Beatles as part of the festivities. Annie
Lennox and Dave Stewart went on hiatus in 2005 and last released a studio album
in 1999, but somehow a band that has no more of a tie to the Beatles than
Gandhi has to Gwar reuniting for “The Night That Changed America: A Grammy
Salute To The Beatles” is fitting…..in someone’s mind. The special will be
broadcast on Feb. 9, exactly 50 years after the Beatles made their U.S. television
debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. So far, the Grammys have not confirmed
whether Paul McCartney or Ringo Starr will feature in the program. If they do,
hopefully they can duet with Eminem to round out the night……..
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