Studies Give Coffee a Positive Rap

The pundits say that tea is good for you. Well, it now seems that for us coffee drinkers there is a benefit too, so one can indulge in a great coffee.......now knowing it is good for your health, with 3-4 cups being a good 'dose" daily.

Recent studies show coffee makes you sharper, lowers cancer risks, reduces neural degeneration and age related brain damage.

It also seems to lower risks of incurring stroke and coronary diseases, by at least 19% in studies on female patients over the past 25 years. That is a significant longitudinal study.

Read more here -http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/41475

So, coffee drinkers..............here's to us!

Lunar Eclipse Last Night

We were among the lucky ones.............a great view of the eclipse last night.

There was no prior announcement locally, although not a surprise. I was coming back from swimming training, and noticed a small gap on the moon. A bit odd Methinks.........looks suspiciously like a small lunar eclipse.

Checked it out online after getting home..........and we would get a great view! Only seen across the Pacific, Australia and eastern Malaysia. Darwin had a great view, as moon rose almost into the eclipse as sunset was around 1830hrs and moonrise just after 1900hrs with the eclipse commencing soon after that. Photo is very similar to early stage from last night, but is from an earlier one in 2001, taken in the US by Richard Seaman.

Maximum coverage was about when the moon was high in the sky, so it was a great view, on a clear cloudless dry season night, with maximum cover in Darwin at about 2100hrs.

While we usually know what it is today, I wonder how ancient peoples wondered about the events??

Identity Theft IS Real

No, it has not happened to me........well, not yet, as far as I know.

Recent data from Australia, and this is probably similar elsewhere in westernised countries, is that while people are concerned, they do little..........really.........NOTHING to prevent it occurring.

There are simple steps you can take that can reduce the chance of it happening. And it includes not getting boozed and losing your wallet or mobile phone too!! A bit of an issue with the 20 somethings, from reports.

Australian credit agencies reckon there are a few simple practices that do help this not happening and recommends you take a few steps to make it a bit harder for the crims, to effectively deflect them from you to easier targets:

1. Check your credit file regularly and sign up to an alert service to be notified if someone applies for credit in your name;
2. Change passwords and PINs regularly, and have more complex PIN numbers;
3. Lock your mail box and shred personal information, such a bank account statements / utilities / [a personal electric shredder costs about $30 here in Australia];
4. Store personal information in a secure database so it can be easily cancelled regardless of your location;
5. Sign up to a loss assistance and retrieval service for financial cards, mobile phones, documents and personal valuables and
6. Keep track of the personal information stored in your wallet / handbag / mobile phone / PC or PDA.

Remember, just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

Oh, and remember............you might have a lot of data hanging out on Facebook too. [Bugger!!.....too late if it is]

Is It Fixed??

The football World Cup is now on.

And Australia got totally thumped, humped and blasted by Germany in their first game. By four goals! oh dear ------4-0!



Interesting outcome, even worse than possibly feared. Will they get past the preliminaries?

An even more interesting interview today was on Radio National here in Australia with Declan Hill, author of the book, "The Fix". It is based on his PhD thesis at Oxford that examines the fixing of soccer games worldwide.
The interview is absolutely fascinating, and definitely gives one something to think about regarding football.

Go the Socceroos!

Download the audio file here - [ about 8 mins]:

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/australiatalks/index/subjects_Sport_2010.htm the heading is "Fascination Football" on 14 June.

Women now Violent?

A Northern Territory researcher says studies show women can be just as violent as men and social changes are behind a reported rise in violence among young women.

A senior lecturer in psychology at Charles Darwin University, Dr Peter Forster, says there is no truth to the argument that testosterone levels make men more aggressive.

He says social factors such as the rise of feminism in the last few decades could be behind the rise in violence amongst women.

"We've now taken away the expectation that women will behave differently to men," he said.
"It used to be that one of the biggest differences was that women were more peaceful, they were peacemakers."[But] that kind of inhibition to be violent has gradually diminished to the point where it no longer inhibits women at all."

Does playing soccer and football encourage women to be violent?

Lets be provocative.............what do women think??