Gleanings of the Week Ending October 25, 2014

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

You Probably Never Realized How Marble Is Harvested, but It's Beautiful - A short video, with big equipment cleaving very large blocks of marble from the mountain (in Italy).

Klyde Warren Park Wins Open Space Award - I walked through the Klyde Warren Park in downtown Dallas last spring (posted about it here). It is well deserving of the award --- and a visit if you are in the area.

Smart List: 50 Great Blogs & Blasts - There are a lot of great places where education topics are presented, discusses, argued….there is a lot going on. I try to take a couple of education courses per year in Coursera; I have been surprised at the wealth of materials available, how tech savvy teachers are becoming and the ability of student to utilize the online tools in a focused way. Learning expectations for K-12, college and throughout life are increasing because there is a blossoming of learning opportunities!

Olive oil more stable and healthful than seed oils for frying food - I was glad to see the results of this study since there is so much confusing information out on which oils are best at high temperature. I have always used olive oil as the primary oil for all my cooking.

Positive subliminal messages on aging improve physical functioning in elderly - I liked this finding that positive subliminal messages on aging led to individuals’ positive age stereotypes which then strengthened their positive self-perceptions….and then improved their physical function.  Perhaps what we learn most from this kind of research is a recognition of how often negative stereotypes appear in our media; older people have to intentional either avoid or supplant those negative messages about aging.

Air New Zealand's New Hobbit Video Is Greatest Flight Safety Film Ever - What fun!

The Sun Is Beautiful When Its Magnetic Field Is Angry - I had to include at least one solar related post this week. We tried to see the partial eclipse on Thursday but it was cloudy in our area.

Which States Have The Most Restrictive Voting Laws? - I included this post since the mid-term elections are coming up; early voting has started in a lot of states. There is quite a lot of variability in voting laws.

In East Coast Marshes, Goats Take On a Notorious Invader - Evidently, goats have been used to control kudzu in the south but this study extended to marshy areas with different invasive species.  What a great way to reduce the use of herbicides (which have broader negative impacts on the environment while they kill the invasives).

Birth season affects your mood in later life, new research suggests - Some the descriptions of the statistically significant trends are so general that they sound like horoscopes. Do you fit the trend for the season you were born in?