Archive for June 4th, 2010

Muhammad Ali or Floyd Patterson ?

June 4, 2010

This caught my eye because I frequently use the characterization in references that somebody can (or can not) take a punch.

For me, it’s shorthand for how a person deals with unexpected adversity and criticism.

It’s a gauge of character …

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David Axelrod was reportedly concerned about candidate Obama’s “willingness and ability to put up with something never before experienced on a sustained basis: criticism. I don’t know if you are Muhammad Ali or Floyd Patterson when it comes to taking a punch.”
 http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/05/27/obama-the-thin-skinned-president/

  • Note to non-sporters and young folks, Ali could – Patterson couldn’t

Last week, there were none too flattering characterizations of Obama floating around: thin-skinned, defensive, whiney, blame shifting … and one TV pundit quipped “America wants a president, not a princess”.

Paraphrasing MLK: A person’s true character is revealed in not times of prosperity, but in times of adversity

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Posted in Leadership, Obama Administration | Leave a Comment »

Stand up if you want to be leaner & live longer … no kidding.

June 4, 2010

Public enemy No. 1 in today’s workplace: the office chair .

Americans sit an average of almost 9 hours per day … but. the spine wasn’t meant to stay for long periods in a seated position … especially in a typical office chair.

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Quick Takes from Bloomberg Business Week: Your Office Chair Is Killing You, April 29, 2010

“Short of sitting on a spike, you can’t do much worse than a standard office chair.” 

New research in the diverse fields of epidemiology, molecular biology, biomechanics, and physiology is converging toward a startling conclusion: Sitting is a public-health risk.

“People with obesity have a natural predisposition to be attracted to their chair.”

Lean people, on average, stand for two hours longer than their counterparts.

“If you’re standing around and puttering, you recruit specialized muscles designed for postural support that never tire … they’re unique in that the nervous system recruits them for low-intensity activity and they’re very rich in enzymes.”

  • One enzyme, lipoprotein lipase, grabs fat and cholesterol from the blood, burning the fat into energy while shifting the cholesterol from LDL (the bad kind) to HDL (the healthy kind).
  • When you sit, the muscles are relaxed, and enzyme activity drops by 90% to 95%, leaving fat to camp out in the bloodstream. Within a couple hours of sitting, healthy cholesterol plummets by 20%.

Older people who move around have half the mortality rate of their peers.

Frequent TV and Web surfers (sitters) have higher rates of hypertension, obesity, high blood triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, and high blood sugar, regardless of weight.:

Full article:
http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/10_19/b4177071221162.htm

Posted in Health & Nutrition | Leave a Comment »