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Award-winning filmmaker Morgan Spurlock has passed away from cancer at the relatively young age of 53: https://apnews.com/article/morgan-spurlock-dies-246036b526cdeaf55f7d1335461775a5 If you are of a certain generation, this guy was iconic. Even greater than Michael Moore, IMO, in terms of...

IQ scores among Americans are falling. The evidence seems to be that it is due to environmental changes, possibly due to social media consumption and screen time: https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/13/health/falling-iq-scores-study-intl/index.html

According to the late medieval historian Lynn white, Christianity is largely responsible for environmental destruction associated with the spread of western culture. What's noteworthy about Lynn White, besides being a medieval historian (and not an Earth scientist), he was also a devout...

There's an indie film that's out called Christspiracy, about the historical Jesus and his real motivations for cleansing the temple. It has some interviews with biblical scholars like James Tabor, who argues that Jesus cleansed the temple because he was opposed to the sacrifices there, and that...

There's a fitness fad in east Asia, especially among older people, called Slow Jogging. It's jogging that is done very slowly, around a fast walking pace. Target heart rate is around 114 for somebody my age (138 - half your age is the target heart rate), with a cadence of around 180 bpm. It...

This is a simple, slightly less demanding VO2Max test that anybody can do that has a step stool, a heart rate sensor (fitness tracker, smart watch, etc.), or a metronome. These types of tests correlate with a VO2Max treadmill test very well, being on average only 3 points higher. One thing I...

I found a more accurate VO2Max cycling calculator, using an exercise bike. You peddle for six minutes after a brief warmup, maintaining a heart rate of between 127-172 beats per minute. Trained individuals should use 100-200 watts as the target power output. Untrained individuals should use...

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy discusses the epidemic of loneliness in the US, and it's impacts on health. This is the first time I've really listened to Vivek Murthy. I am impressed by the holistic vision he brings. We haven't had a surgeon general like him, since perhaps C. Everett Koop...

Today was the day this really hit home to me. Our pastor was injured in a fall and is in recovery. So we had a substitute pastor, a retired UCC pastor come to preach. His sermon just seemed like the typical liberal mainline Protestant stuff I grew up with in the United Methodist church...

For my friends on the forum, a prayer request: The pastor at our church, First UCC of Orlando, the reverend Lynn Blevins, has been hurt in a fall and has a broken pelvis. She is in the hospital. She is elderly and it will take months for her to recover.

Last Sunday, on New Years Eve, my S.O. played the piano at church and she is going to become the official organist after our current organist retires and goes back to the Carolinas to be closer to family. After church we went to the grocery store, and we split up and I was sent to the milk...

A discussion with Dr. Tim Spector, a British genetic epidemiologist at King's College, and Dr. Will Will Bulsiewicz, a gastroenterologist, about how the gut microbiome influences inflammation in the body. I had fairly severe IBS years ago, I couldn't tolerate fiber but was still having less...

This January I will be joining First United Church of Christ of Orlando, Florida. So I'll probably be the only member of the UCC on this forum.

Richa Prasad has a great channel of diet tips that are science based. She's been helpful in helping me understand phenomena like weight loss plateaus, and how sometimes you need to eat more to lose weight. In this video, she explains how low carb diets actually work, and what parts are only...

Here Dr. Muhammed Alo, a cardiologist and personal trainer, discusses the constrained model of exercise, and why exercise cannot contribute a substantial amount to weight loss. Once you get past a moderate level of activity, the more you exercise, the more your body reduces non-exercise caloric...

By 2030, half of US adults will be obese: https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2019-12-18/nearly-half-of-us-adults-will-be-obese-by-2030 I am surprised this isn't something I've ever heard any politicians talking about in the US. Anybody who has tried to lose weight knows it can be...

This is a simple tool to estimate body fat that I have come across. It was developed for the US Navy and is used by the US Navy and Marines in evaluating recruits and active-duty personnel for physical fitness. It is accurate to within 1-3% in the vast majority of cases. All you need is a...

Anybody else a fan of this TV series? I became curious about the background of the creator of this series, Rod Serling, since many of the episodes he wrote had moral or religious themes. It turns out he was a Jew who converted to Unitarianism at a time when church membership was normative in...

A large storm hit the Mediterranean recently. Wind speends reached almost 60 miles per hour. That's almost hurricane strength. Libyan has had alot of flooding, as the rains caused dams to be breached. The storm also resulted in heavy rain, record flooding, and numerous deaths in Greece...

California scientists have used an experimental fusion reactor to produce energy for the second time, this time producing even more power: