Amy Adams Five Time Oscar Nominee
11 years ago
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
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Haven't been online much.
Dealing with life.
Trying to move on?
Stuck in the same whirlwind circle in my head...
Browsing photography & the news today I came across a photographer who did a short photojournalism piece of homeless addicts in the bronx. I found it moving. The images, faces, stories... people most of us see daily in our own cities and just walk past...
http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-504083_162-10011486.html?tag=page
If you have some time - take it in.
Makes you think about saying hello, sitting down to that panhandler and listening to their story
Dealing with life.
Trying to move on?
Stuck in the same whirlwind circle in my head...
Browsing photography & the news today I came across a photographer who did a short photojournalism piece of homeless addicts in the bronx. I found it moving. The images, faces, stories... people most of us see daily in our own cities and just walk past...
http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-504083_162-10011486.html?tag=page
If you have some time - take it in.
Makes you think about saying hello, sitting down to that panhandler and listening to their story
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Risk takers give birth to risk takers
Published on February 21, 2012 by Professor Gary L. Wenk, Ph. D. in Your Brain on Food
Do you feel impulsive today? How much risk are you willing to expose yourself to for the sake of a few dollars; how far are you willing to exceed the speed limit just to cutting off a few minutes from the morning commute; how easy is it for you to turn down just one more line of cocaine? Each of us would answer these questions with a wide range of nuanced responses. Life is a balancing act: on one side is impulsive action; on the other is thoughtful hesitation.
Psychologists have studied this balance for many decades; cartoonists have depicted the event as an argument between an angel sitting on one shoulder while the devil sits on the other; both are whispering into their respective ear. Do it; don't do it. Our response is significantly influenced by the genes we inherited from our parents. Risk takers give birth to risk takers. The category that you fall into as a child offers insight into your future mental and physical health and your probability of spending time in jail, becoming obese or developing an addiction to cocaine.
Recently, a group of neuroscientists at the University of Cambridge published (Science, Feb 2012) evidence showing that abnormalities in the connections between specific parts of the brain (within the inferior frontal lobe) underlie our ability or inability to control our behavior. Furthermore, their results provide insight into why siblings sometimes display quite different levels of impulse control. More importantly, their study offers hope that it is possible to avoid the same fate as your addicted sibling —they're just not sure how, yet.
The scientists examined the brains from fifty biological sibling pairs. Each pair consisted of someone who was dependent upon stimulant drugs (such as methamphetamine or cocaine); the sibling pair was required to have no history of drug or alcohol abuse. The information obtained from these siblings was compared to that obtained from fifty healthy volunteers who were unrelated and matched for age and level of intelligence.
The siblings, whether addicted to stimulants or not, both demonstrated personality traits that are highly predictive of being vulnerable to long term drug abuse. The major behavioral symptom was having poor inhibitory control, i.e. it was quite difficult for them to stop doing something risky when instructed to do so. The scientists discovered a high correlation between an inability to control one's behavior and a deformed structural integrity in brain regions that critical for this ability.
Why is this finding so important? Because it clearly demonstrates that important features of our brain anatomy, features that are present at birth, predispose us to drug addiction. In the past, the assumption was that the drug-taking experience altered the brain and all that was necessary was that we avoid the drug, i.e. "Just Say No." Essentially, this approach is doomed to failure because we inherit our self-control deficits. The imbalance in control that develops between vulnerable brain regions is also thought to predispose people to thrill-seeking and impulsive behaviors such as gambling. An explanation for why one sibling succumbed to drug dependence while the other did not remains to be determined.
Published on February 21, 2012 by Professor Gary L. Wenk, Ph. D. in Your Brain on Food
Do you feel impulsive today? How much risk are you willing to expose yourself to for the sake of a few dollars; how far are you willing to exceed the speed limit just to cutting off a few minutes from the morning commute; how easy is it for you to turn down just one more line of cocaine? Each of us would answer these questions with a wide range of nuanced responses. Life is a balancing act: on one side is impulsive action; on the other is thoughtful hesitation.
Psychologists have studied this balance for many decades; cartoonists have depicted the event as an argument between an angel sitting on one shoulder while the devil sits on the other; both are whispering into their respective ear. Do it; don't do it. Our response is significantly influenced by the genes we inherited from our parents. Risk takers give birth to risk takers. The category that you fall into as a child offers insight into your future mental and physical health and your probability of spending time in jail, becoming obese or developing an addiction to cocaine.
Recently, a group of neuroscientists at the University of Cambridge published (Science, Feb 2012) evidence showing that abnormalities in the connections between specific parts of the brain (within the inferior frontal lobe) underlie our ability or inability to control our behavior. Furthermore, their results provide insight into why siblings sometimes display quite different levels of impulse control. More importantly, their study offers hope that it is possible to avoid the same fate as your addicted sibling —they're just not sure how, yet.
The scientists examined the brains from fifty biological sibling pairs. Each pair consisted of someone who was dependent upon stimulant drugs (such as methamphetamine or cocaine); the sibling pair was required to have no history of drug or alcohol abuse. The information obtained from these siblings was compared to that obtained from fifty healthy volunteers who were unrelated and matched for age and level of intelligence.
The siblings, whether addicted to stimulants or not, both demonstrated personality traits that are highly predictive of being vulnerable to long term drug abuse. The major behavioral symptom was having poor inhibitory control, i.e. it was quite difficult for them to stop doing something risky when instructed to do so. The scientists discovered a high correlation between an inability to control one's behavior and a deformed structural integrity in brain regions that critical for this ability.
Why is this finding so important? Because it clearly demonstrates that important features of our brain anatomy, features that are present at birth, predispose us to drug addiction. In the past, the assumption was that the drug-taking experience altered the brain and all that was necessary was that we avoid the drug, i.e. "Just Say No." Essentially, this approach is doomed to failure because we inherit our self-control deficits. The imbalance in control that develops between vulnerable brain regions is also thought to predispose people to thrill-seeking and impulsive behaviors such as gambling. An explanation for why one sibling succumbed to drug dependence while the other did not remains to be determined.
(CBS News) by Willem Marx
U.N. Secretary General Ban ki-moon said Thursday that Afghanistan will never be stable unless it tackles its drug problem. He spoke at an international conference in Vienna.
Ninety percent of the world's opium originates in Afghanistan's poppy fields -- and much of that is turned into heroin. CBS News contributor Willem Marx took a look at the problem.
Beneath a notorious bridge in downtown Kabul, a human tragedy festers. For more than a year now, hundreds of heroin addicts have lived there -- an ancient opium den in a modern urban sewer. Thousands more drop in each day to buy, smoke and inject their daily fix.
"How do you react when you see that level of misery?" Marx asked Jean-Luc Lemahieu, who heads the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime for Afghanistan.
"Appalling, appalling," he said. "And even more appalling, it is happening just below and in front of us."
Lemahieu said with ever more users injecting their drugs, there's a troubling new statistic. Around 1 in 14 of Afghanistan's drug users is now believed to be HIV positive. And with addicts sharing needles, that number is soaring.
This is how an HIV epidemic brews. We watched as men reused bloody syringes again and again -- so many, that we had to walk carefully among the addicts for fear of treading on an errant needle.
"Each day my life was getting worse and worse," said Abdulrahim Rejee, a former heroin user who crawled out of this despair a year ago. Today he lives with nine other recovering addicts in a shared home.
Abdulrahim credits a pilot program involving methadone, a heroin substitute that requires no needles. It is widely viewed as the best defense against the spread of HIV here.
"I feel my life has changed 100 percent," he said. "I have rejoined my family, and I feel very healthy."
But methadone is available for just a fraction of Afghanistan's addicts -- Abdulrahim and 70 others.
"We need to expand the delivery of that service to a lot more addicts than what we are able to do today," said Lemahieu.
The only other option here is to go cold turkey at a detox clinic. Under the bridge one morning, Marx saw an addict collapse from an overdose. Abdulrahim jumped in to resuscitate the struggling man.
"When I go to that bridge," Abdulrahim told Marx, "I want to help those people, that they can live like me."
The man barely survived barely, But with limited care available, he lived only to shoot up another day. This misery persists, while a deadly virus continues to spread.
U.N. Secretary General Ban ki-moon said Thursday that Afghanistan will never be stable unless it tackles its drug problem. He spoke at an international conference in Vienna.
Ninety percent of the world's opium originates in Afghanistan's poppy fields -- and much of that is turned into heroin. CBS News contributor Willem Marx took a look at the problem.
Beneath a notorious bridge in downtown Kabul, a human tragedy festers. For more than a year now, hundreds of heroin addicts have lived there -- an ancient opium den in a modern urban sewer. Thousands more drop in each day to buy, smoke and inject their daily fix.
"How do you react when you see that level of misery?" Marx asked Jean-Luc Lemahieu, who heads the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime for Afghanistan.
"Appalling, appalling," he said. "And even more appalling, it is happening just below and in front of us."
Lemahieu said with ever more users injecting their drugs, there's a troubling new statistic. Around 1 in 14 of Afghanistan's drug users is now believed to be HIV positive. And with addicts sharing needles, that number is soaring.
This is how an HIV epidemic brews. We watched as men reused bloody syringes again and again -- so many, that we had to walk carefully among the addicts for fear of treading on an errant needle.
"Each day my life was getting worse and worse," said Abdulrahim Rejee, a former heroin user who crawled out of this despair a year ago. Today he lives with nine other recovering addicts in a shared home.
Abdulrahim credits a pilot program involving methadone, a heroin substitute that requires no needles. It is widely viewed as the best defense against the spread of HIV here.
"I feel my life has changed 100 percent," he said. "I have rejoined my family, and I feel very healthy."
But methadone is available for just a fraction of Afghanistan's addicts -- Abdulrahim and 70 others.
"We need to expand the delivery of that service to a lot more addicts than what we are able to do today," said Lemahieu.
The only other option here is to go cold turkey at a detox clinic. Under the bridge one morning, Marx saw an addict collapse from an overdose. Abdulrahim jumped in to resuscitate the struggling man.
"When I go to that bridge," Abdulrahim told Marx, "I want to help those people, that they can live like me."
The man barely survived barely, But with limited care available, he lived only to shoot up another day. This misery persists, while a deadly virus continues to spread.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
#2
Hold my hand and know that I am falling in love with you,
Kiss my lips, and feel the rush, you'll know I hold no others above you!
Reach out your arm, and I'll rub it softly,
Can you read my thoughts? They're about you mostly.
Look into my eyes, and see the reflection,
Of your darling smile, how it shines like stars in heaven.
Have you ever caught a gentle breeze?
As it dances the wreaths of willows,
It's tranquil comfort can not put my heart at such ease,
When compared to laughing with you, under blankets and pillows.
So roll with me, in a bed blanketed by flowers,
And make love to me, for endless amounts of hours.
Toast with me a chilled, crisp glass called divine,
And indulge in me the warmest dream, that you always be just mine.
My sweet Victoria, what can I say,
You take my every breath away,
And from the start of everyday,
Please known that you make me feel this way!
~J
Hold my hand and know that I am falling in love with you,
Kiss my lips, and feel the rush, you'll know I hold no others above you!
Reach out your arm, and I'll rub it softly,
Can you read my thoughts? They're about you mostly.
Look into my eyes, and see the reflection,
Of your darling smile, how it shines like stars in heaven.
Have you ever caught a gentle breeze?
As it dances the wreaths of willows,
It's tranquil comfort can not put my heart at such ease,
When compared to laughing with you, under blankets and pillows.
So roll with me, in a bed blanketed by flowers,
And make love to me, for endless amounts of hours.
Toast with me a chilled, crisp glass called divine,
And indulge in me the warmest dream, that you always be just mine.
My sweet Victoria, what can I say,
You take my every breath away,
And from the start of everyday,
Please known that you make me feel this way!
~J
Friday, February 10, 2012
Hey Jay,
It's been so long since we've talked. I miss the sound of your voice. All I have left are a few videos, some recorded voice mails and memories. But it's not the same. I miss coming home to u sitting on the bed "hey baby" with your arms outstretched to give me a hug. I miss how tight those hugs use to be when I was having a rough day. Jay every day has been a rough day since you're gone. I miss your hugs. I miss the safety I felt when standing next to you. I miss the glimmer in your eyes. How you'd break into song. I miss the sweet poetry and letters you'd leave me. I miss laying in bed, talking all night. i miss u. i miss the person i use to be and the person you helped me become.
I've never had so many days of tears, or just being a shell of a person. I wish you could come back to me or come get me. Where are you? I need you to hold my hand again.
I remember that last night we were together, you reached for my hand to cross the street and you said "i always want to hold your hand to cross the street" you just always wanted to take care of me. i treasured it so much. i hate that i failed you. that i didn't get into the bathroom quick enough to save you. i pay for it every day. riddled with guilt. a shell of a person. i just want to be with you. i watched the emts get on top of you in the ambulance. i never pray. but i just prayed so hard you'd be ok. and then when your mom caled and said the doctors were working on you, i breathed a breath of fresh air... i thought you were going to be ok, until a few minutes later all i heard was "tori he's gone" why jay, why couldn't you hold on? why couldn't you get a second chance? you had so much to give this world. i don't think you ever saw it - but you made such an important impression on all of those around you. you needed more time here... i miss u jay, more then words can express. i hope that wherever you are, you might be able to read my words, or hear my thoughts or the things i say out loud to you. i hope that you have found peace. i hope my grandfather has found you and the two of you are sitting in lazyboys just waiting for mam's to come make you some french toast :)
ok the tears come down to hard to keep writing.
It's been so long since we've talked. I miss the sound of your voice. All I have left are a few videos, some recorded voice mails and memories. But it's not the same. I miss coming home to u sitting on the bed "hey baby" with your arms outstretched to give me a hug. I miss how tight those hugs use to be when I was having a rough day. Jay every day has been a rough day since you're gone. I miss your hugs. I miss the safety I felt when standing next to you. I miss the glimmer in your eyes. How you'd break into song. I miss the sweet poetry and letters you'd leave me. I miss laying in bed, talking all night. i miss u. i miss the person i use to be and the person you helped me become.
I've never had so many days of tears, or just being a shell of a person. I wish you could come back to me or come get me. Where are you? I need you to hold my hand again.
I remember that last night we were together, you reached for my hand to cross the street and you said "i always want to hold your hand to cross the street" you just always wanted to take care of me. i treasured it so much. i hate that i failed you. that i didn't get into the bathroom quick enough to save you. i pay for it every day. riddled with guilt. a shell of a person. i just want to be with you. i watched the emts get on top of you in the ambulance. i never pray. but i just prayed so hard you'd be ok. and then when your mom caled and said the doctors were working on you, i breathed a breath of fresh air... i thought you were going to be ok, until a few minutes later all i heard was "tori he's gone" why jay, why couldn't you hold on? why couldn't you get a second chance? you had so much to give this world. i don't think you ever saw it - but you made such an important impression on all of those around you. you needed more time here... i miss u jay, more then words can express. i hope that wherever you are, you might be able to read my words, or hear my thoughts or the things i say out loud to you. i hope that you have found peace. i hope my grandfather has found you and the two of you are sitting in lazyboys just waiting for mam's to come make you some french toast :)
ok the tears come down to hard to keep writing.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
As I sit in this room so restlessly pondering
In the glow of twilight's dew
I cannot help but go on wondering,
For yet another reason why I love you!
My thoughts are overflowing,
As spill out reason and fact
While my heart, I feel lit glowing
Golden as the pollen aflutter from a butterfly's back
My darling love, my perfect love,
The words hath sent me reaming
Such perfect Love, Forever love
Please tell me, I am not dreaming
That I with soul so devil blackended,
Could have an angel so kind and true
I question the marvel of how it happened,
And find yet another reason why I love you!
In the glow of twilight's dew
I cannot help but go on wondering,
For yet another reason why I love you!
My thoughts are overflowing,
As spill out reason and fact
While my heart, I feel lit glowing
Golden as the pollen aflutter from a butterfly's back
My darling love, my perfect love,
The words hath sent me reaming
Such perfect Love, Forever love
Please tell me, I am not dreaming
That I with soul so devil blackended,
Could have an angel so kind and true
I question the marvel of how it happened,
And find yet another reason why I love you!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
If Heaven really does exist
with pillars of light & celestial wish
I'd have to say it's not a wish
if heaven I could not bring your kiss
Violins a chord in heaven
playing for the angels seven
& ambue a beauty onto the world
that night compares to the
loveliness of this girl
& play to the levels of angels 7
For T
-2011
Thursday, February 2, 2012
This is the love I give to you dear
More then the single words I try to say
I only live to love you more each day
More then you'd ever known
-For T
More then the single words I try to say
I only live to love you more each day
More then you'd ever known
-For T
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