The Primal Stoner

Just a person trying to be fit while enjoying some of life's pleasures. This will probably be a journal of my snacks and activities and possibly other things I think are cool. Male Height 5' 5.5" HW 200lbs Winter 2011 LW 127 lbs Winter 2009 CW 140 Summer/Fall 2012

[theprimalstoner]

Super barebones but fairly well done.

[theprimalstoner]

Memphis Dry Rub

[historical-nonfiction]

Humanity did not prove that the sun is, in fact, a star until 1838.

[coiour-my-world]

Sunset Lupines and Mt Hood, Mt Hood Wilderness, OR ~ randalljhodges

[theprimalstoner]

This is what paradise looks like.

[nevver]

Return to Magenta, Alex Ugalek

[bryyando]

Dancing or Fitness Sport? The Effects of Two Training Programs on Hippocampal Plasticity and Balance Abilities in Healthy Seniors

Age-related degenerations in brain structure are associated with balance disturbances and cognitive impairments. However, neuroplasticity is known to be preserved throughout lifespan and physical training studies with seniors could reveal volume increases in the hippocampus (HC), a region crucial for memory consolidation, learning and navigation in space, which were related to improvements in aerobic fitness. Moreover, a positive correlation between left HC volume and balance performance was observed. Dancing seems a promising intervention for both improving balance and brain structure in the elderly. It combines aerobic fitness, sensorimotor skills and cognitive demands while at the same time the risk of injuries is low. Hence, the present investigation compared the effects of an 18-month dancing intervention and traditional health fitness training on volumes of hippocampal subfields and balance abilities. Before and after intervention, balance was evaluated using the Sensory Organization Test (SOT) and HC volumes were derived from magnetic resonance images (3T, MP-RAGE).Fourteen members of the dance (67.21 ± 3.78 years, 7 females), and 12 members of the fitness group (68.67 ± 2.57 years, 5 females) completed the whole study. Both groups revealed hippocampal volume increases mainly in the left HC (CA1, CA2, subiculum). The dancers showed additional increases in the left dentate gyrus (DG) and the right subiculum. Moreover, only the dancers achieved a significant increase ...

Age-related degenerations in brain structure are associated with balance disturbances and cognitive impairments. However, neuroplasticity is known to be preserved throughout lifespan and physical training studies with seniors could reveal volume increases in the hippocampus (HC), a region crucial for memory consolidation, learning and navigation in space, which were related to improvements in aerobic fitness. Moreover, a positive correlation between left HC volume and balance performance was observed. Dancing seems a promising intervention for both improving balance and brain structure in the elderly. It combines aerobic fitness, sensorimotor skills and cognitive demands while at the same time the risk of injuries is low. Hence, the present investigation compared the effects of an 18-month dancing intervention and traditional health fitness training on volumes of hippocampal subfields and balance abilities. Before and after intervention, balance was evaluated using the Sensory Organization Test (SOT) and HC volumes were derived from magnetic resonance images (3T, MP-RAGE).Fourteen members of the dance (67.21 ± 3.78 years, 7 females), and 12 members of the fitness group (68.67 ± 2.57 years, 5 females) completed the whole study. Both groups revealed hippocampal volume increases mainly in the left HC (CA1, CA2, subiculum). The dancers showed additional increases in the left dentate gyrus (DG) and the right subiculum. Moreover, only the dancers achieved a significant increase …

[glaciernps]

Rhinos & Hippos & Lemurs, Oh my! It’s #NationalFossilDay! In the middle Eocene around 45 million years ago, give or take a million, a very different suite of creatures roamed the area now known as Glacier National Park. 

While Glacier is best known for its precambrian stromatolite fossils, scientists have also discovered numerous insects, molluscs, and at least 26 kinds of mammals in the park fossil record, ranging from very small rodents and shrew-like animals to much larger amynodonts, titanotheres, and brontotheres (pictured here courtesy of wikimedia commons). Many of these are primarily represented through their teeth, such as the marsupialia (also pictured thanks to Drs. Mary Dawson & Kurt Constenius of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History). A recent publication by Dawson & Constenius in the Annals of Carnegie Museum tells more.

[npr]

Five years ago, Finca El Valle, a small, family-run coffee farm south of Antigua, Guatemala, was producing 140,000 pounds of superior-quality Arabica for a select handful of America’s premier specialty-coffee roasters.

An outbreak of coffee leaf rust, caused by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix, hit the celebrated coffee-producing region in 2012, and by 2014 it had infected the entire farm. That year El Valle harvested a meager 28,000 pounds of coffee, an 80 percent drop. The next harvests were even smaller. With the lowest coffee prices in a dozen years, reviving the farm has been deeply challenging.

“We are in the middle of the biggest coffee crisis of our time,” said the Guatemalan producer and exporter Josué Morales, who works with over 1,300 growers.

Central America, where smallholders produce 80 percent of the region’s coffee, has been particularly hard hit by rust. Some 70 percent of the farms have been affected, and over 1.7 million coffee workers have lost their jobs. Many are leaving the coffee lands to find work elsewhere.

“The problem is not just the rust; it’s the rust and catastrophically low coffee prices,” says Stuart McCook, author of the upcoming Coffee is Not Forever: A Global History of the Coffee Rust. “It’s difficult for farmers to weather both.”

Coffee Rust Threatens Latin American Crop; 150 Years Ago, It Wiped Out An Empire

Photo: Jeff Koehler for NPR

[mentalflossr]

The Surprising Reasons Your Dog Curls Up in a Ball Before Going to Sleep

"Because it's adorable" is just an unintended side effect.

[defff666-deactivated20121009]

[mindblowingscience]

Chinese Researchers Have Spawned Healthy Mice With 2 Biological Mothers And No Father

This is unprecedented.

By deleting key sequences of DNA in embryonic stem cells harvested from female mice, Chinese researchers successfully kicked off a new generation of the tiny mammals without the need for males to fertilise any eggs.

These fatherless mice not only made it to adulthood, they also went on to have babies of their own, demonstrating the method is a vast improvement on earlier attempts to assist reproduction without the need for both a male and female parent.

Continue Reading.

[narikkaphoto-deactivated2021082]

[theprimalstoner]

this was pretty solid.

[theprimalstoner]

Realization

I just want to be a stay at home dad that grows things with an internet connection. Why is that such an unattainable dream...

[medicinekitchen]

Making a lot of frozen cauliflower based smoothie bowls lately inspired by @leefromamerica. They come out way less sweet. I like the smoothie “bowl” you can actually eat with a spoon, add toppings, & make it feel like an actual meal and not just a drink. This is a pretty blueberry one with avocado + almond butter+ date+ coconut flakes + sliced almonds + bee pollen + blackberries + maca root + probiotics + he shou wu + astragalus + filtered water. Everything but the kitchen sink. Happy weekend! ✌️ . . . #smoothiebowl #smoothie #recipes #medicinekitchen #foodismedicine #healingfoods #superfoods #onthetable #healthyeating #healthykids #healthyfamily #wellness #eattherainbow #eatclean #nourishedlife #holistichealth #wholefoods

[npr]

To make the Iraqi and Kurdish dumpling soup kubeh, Melanie Shurka dedicates hours. There are the broths to make, such as the beet-based selek or the lemon-infused hamusta enhanced by rounds of zucchini and Swiss chard. But more time is dedicated to making the dumplings themselves.

She and her cooks in New York City braise beef until it has collapsed on itself. Small palmfuls are then carefully tucked into a dough of semolina and ground bulgur, shaped into a ball with the corners of the dough kissing, and finally rolled out into a disk that’s plunged into hot broth.

The process requires skills that can only be taught by someone who has entrusted their recipe and technique to another. Perhaps because this dish is so difficult to make, Shurka, who is half Israeli and half American, has become the first person to dedicate a restaurant, fittingly named “Kubeh,” to it in the U.S.

She brought it to the U.S. not from the soup’s original home, but from its adopted one, Israel, where it’s a comfort food staple made by gifted home cooks for the Sabbath and in small restaurants that dot some of the country’s outdoor markets, most notably the one in Jerusalem.

An Iraqi-Kurdish-Israeli Dumpling Soup Makes Its Way To America

Photos: Rebecca Fondren