Wednesday, January 14, 2009

It's coffee time in the big city

That's right, folks, the gang at Covenant Zone are taking a break to sit down and have coffee from 7-9:00 p.m. (every Thursday) in the atrium at Vancouver Public Library just outside Blenz coffee bar.

Sit in with us and let's talk about the state of things. Have a cookie. Give your opinion. If I don't like it, then you can pay for the coffee.

Look for the Israeli flag on my baseball cap. I'm usually under it. Hope to see you.

8 comments:

Charles Henry said...

Maybe we should switch from coffee klatches to tea parties..:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24911629-1702,00.html

truepeers said...

Well, I'm someone who from time to time hears sounds in the night that seem very real, very present, and at the same time I think they can't be real - no possible source for them is present. They are not quite dreams because i am half-awake and come insantly to attention when I "hear" them. This no longer startles me much since I just think it's another instance of a weird brain phenomenon.

I am a moderate coffee drinker.

The brain does funny things: Phantom limb phenomena in amputees, for example. When we feel pain in a part of our body, that part is not really there where the pain phenomenon is located, but rather in our brain.

I wouldn't put much weight on studies that purport to find some correlation (with caffeine) until we have a much better understanding of how our brain works in making us conscious of mental phenomena that have no direct correlation with physical realities because they are truly transcendent. Language, as I keep noting, has no subsisting material existence in the neurons.

So, another dark roast for me.

truepeers said...

And then there is this story:

"Researchers who followed 1,400 middle-aged people for 21 years to find out who later developed dementia, found coffee drinkers have a significantly lower risk of getting the memory-destroying disease.

The lowest risk — a 65-per-cent decreased risk — was found in people who drank three to five cups of coffee a day when they were 50.

"We were quite surprised this risk reduction was so big," says lead researcher Dr. Miia Kivipelto, of the University of Kuopio, Finland and the Karolinska institute in Stockholm.

The study adds to evidence that dietary interventions "may be important for preventing or postponing the onset of Alzheimer's disease," she says.

"Of course, it may be too much to say that it would be solved only by drinking coffee. But it's one of these players. Globally, people are drinking quite a lot of coffee, so this finding surely may have broad implications."

The results, published in this month's issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, need to be confirmed by other studies, and there might be something else about people who drink moderate amounts of coffee that lowers their dementia risk.

But caffeine stimulates brain function. Other studies have shown the "use it or lose it" hypothesis holds when it comes to dementia: The more people engage in mentally stimulating activities, the lower their risk."

reliable sources said...

That "Hindus for Israel" photo is good. I read on the internet that in Canada, Hindus and Jews have had a meeting because they see Islamists as a common threat.

reliable sources said...

I guess I should have written that they see "jihadiis" as a common threat.

Dag said...

I'm waiting for Israelis and Hindus to start drinking real coffee. Then we'll see some progress on Earth.

Anonymous said...

ISLAM is the common threat.

CGW

Dag said...

CGW has had coffee this morning. See? It works.