Religious view on animal care and exploitation

Sensible true believer on human treatment of God's creatures; reminder that Jesus was a proponent of peace and decent treatment of others, not violence.

Brain soundtrack: personal power music?

Every brain has a soundtrack. When that soundtrack is recorded and played back, it may sharpen a person’s reflexes during a crisis, and calm nerves afterward.

To explore how music could be used to help during emergencies, the Department of Homeland Security is studying a form of neurotraining called "Brain Music" that adapts music created from listeners' own brain waves to help them cope with insomnia, fatigue, and headaches stemming from stress. The idea: use the frequency, amplitude and duration of musical sounds to get their brain to relax.

Scientists record the brain music, then convert it into two 2- to 6-minute musical compositions designed to trigger the body's natural responses. The compositions trigger either relaxation – for reduced stress and improved sleep –and alertness, for improved concentration and decision-making. Each track is performed on a single instrument, usually a piano. The relaxation track may sound like a melodic, subdued Chopin sonata, while the alertness track is more like Mozart. Listen to an alert track here.

Each person is then given a set listening schedule. A group of firefighters will be the first emergency responders studied in this project. Since most of us won't have access to brain music recordingings, consider this prescription from Cervantes: "He who sings scares away his woes."

Dog-proof fences? Check out Bark

For Robin's latest article in The BARK (March/April 2009 issue), click here.

Another more detailed article about fences and dogs is found here

New Farm Sanctuary Virtual Experience

Farm Sanctuary just posted a new and insightful Virtual Experience on its website, which uses uses new technology to help you virtually visit a factory farm and the nonprofit's sanctuary. It's a sensitive presentation of the realities of how turkeys and other farmed animals are treated and transported. The Sanctuary presentation helps show that there are caring people, and that caring people can make a difference. Click here.

Pacific Ocean garbage swirl twice now the size of France

Click the here to find out more about this mass of manmade trash polluting and killing life in the Pacific.

Plastic is absolutely ubiquitous, forming the most basic infrastructure of modern consumer society Photo by Brett Ryder

Manhattan glam on a recession budget

I reveal secrets to doing Manhattan in style on a recession budget here in an online travel magazine.

Acupressure effective for post-surgical nausea

Stimulating the Pericardium (P6) point in the wrist prevents nausea and vomiting, report researchers in the current issue of The Cochrane Library. Some 80 percent of people who have surgery complain of nausea and vomiting afterwards. The cost and side effects of anti-nausea medications have spurred interest in simpler and noninvasive alternatives.

Acupuncture, a traditional Chinese medicine treatment going back 2,000 years, involves penetrating the skin with thin, metallic needles at defined points. Acupressure involves wearing a wristband that presses down on the P6 point, which I’ve personally found effective in preventing motion sickness on jags and boats.