The key word here is residents. Adam Harvey has alerted me to an interactive map of the United States produced by The Chronicle of Higher Education that shows the percentage of county residents who have at least a bachelor’s degree.

The 15.87 percent is for my birth county of Washington in southeast Ohio. I don’t count in that figure, but I do in the 27.45 percent for my home county of Cuyahoga in northeast Ohio. For comparison consider other counties that I’ve lived in over the years like: Cook County (Chicago), Ill. 15.57 percent; King County (Seattle), Wash. 44.82 percent and San Diego County, Calif. 34.01 percent.

For further comparison, consider our own Franklin (Columbus), 35.09 percent; Hamilton (Cincinnati) 31.7 percent; and Greene (Dayton) 33.42 percent, counties in Ohio.

Dan Moulthrop, the Curator of Conversation for Civic Commons tweeted this morning:

Akron’s leaders want to fight the brain drain. How can they keep you here? Tell us @civiccommons or http://goo.gl/8uT2P

If there is a brain drain, and I think there is, does this map help us at all understand where people are going or are there too many other factors in play?

Previously…

From Obesity Panacea:

The greater the number of breaks taken from sedentary behavior, the lower the waist circumference, body mass index, as well as blood lipids and glucose tolerance. This was true even if the total amount of sedentary time and physical activity time were equal between individuals – the one who took breaks more frequently during their time at the office or while watching television was less obese and had better metabolic health. Importantly, the breaks taken by the individuals in this study were of a brief duration (<5 min) and a low intensity (such as walking to the washroom, or simply standing).

When I sit down to write I consciously make sure I have my coffee and all the rest of my creative accoutrements, including my coffee thermos. Clearly, this is not a good idea. Coffee refills should come from the pot in the kitchen, even if it does mean a break in my writing.

How many obese barbers do you know?

From my dad, of course…

An old man, a boy and a donkey were going to town. The boy rode on the donkey and the old man walked. As they went along they passed some people who remarked it was a shame the old man was walking and the boy was riding. The man and boy thought perhaps the critics were right, so they changed positions.

Later, they passed some people that remarked, “What a shame, he makes that little boy walk.” They then decided they both would walk!

Soon they passed some more people who thought they were stupid to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride. So, they both rode the donkey.

Now they passed some people that shamed them by saying how awful to put such a load on a poor donkey. The boy and man said they were probably right, so they decided to carry the donkey.

As they crossed the bridge, they lost their grip on the animal and he fell into the river and drowned.

The moral of the story?

If you try to please everyone, you might as well kiss your ass good-bye.

No one has ever achieved consistency as a screenwriter. David Hare

Ten rules for writing fiction from The Guardian.

Found in my electronic chapbook.

MYANMAR/BURMA — The National League for Democracy has launched its own website. According to Mizzima:

Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was reportedly pleased with the creation of a National League for Democracy party website by an unidentified third party outside of Burma.

The Washington Post asks the important question:

It was not immediately clear if the government, which exercises tight control over the Internet and other media, would try to block the site, which is meant for party members at home as well as supporters abroad.

The headlines this morning include: The NLD helps to solve drinking water shortage in northern Chin; Analysis of the Economy; and Book review roundtable. Hardly revolutionary rhetoric, but then that’s not Aung San Suu Kyi’s style.

Do what you can to make this a good morning, Myanmar.

Previously…

From Obesity Panacea:

But wait – could it be that the people who sit more are only at risk because they also happen to be obese? Unfortunately body weight was only available in a subset of individuals in the present study, making this a difficult question to address. However, the authors did examine the association between sitting and mortality after control for body weight in this subset of individuals, and report that sitting remained a significant predictor of mortality. This suggests that all things being equal (body weight, physical activity levels, smoking, alcohol intake, age, and sex) the person who sits more is at a higher risk of death than the person who sits less. The authors go on to suggest that sitting for extended periods of time may alter certain physiological processes, such as lipoprotein lipase activity, which could explain the link between time spent sitting and mortality risk (we’ll get to this in Part 4 of the series!).

I had this conversation over the weekend and the question came up: are people less fit because their obese or are they obese because they’re less fit. That is the kind of chicken-or-egg question that is difficult to answer, but Travis seems to indicate here that the question misses the point because obesity may not be the issue.

More tomorrow.

From my dad, of course…

1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.

3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.

4. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.

5. Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!!!

6. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!!

7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explores for quick meals to thwart off starvation.

8.. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don’t have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.

9. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voilà, the squeak is gone!

10. Stressed out and don’t have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber with react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown the reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.

11. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don’t have gum or mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the phytochemcials will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

12. Looking for a ‘green’ way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won’t leave streaks and won’t harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.

13. Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls.

The original of this sources the Spotlight On The Home section of the New York Times. As near as I can tell, there is no validity to that claim, making all of the above more than suspect. If you test them out, let me know. Snopes, of course, weighs in…

Theatre primarily belongs to the young. David Hare

Ten rules for writing fiction from The Guardian.

Found in my electronic chapbook.

MYANMAR/BURMA — The Bangkok Post thinks so:

For the second week in a row the big news story is a crumbling dictatorship in the Middle East. While it’s still to soon to say if Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak will share the same fate as Tunisian strongman Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, yesterday protesters controlled many parts of Cairo. Mr Mubarak has vowed he will not be removed, and as long as the military stands with him, he is probably right.

The situation is similar to one much closer to home, in Burma, where the chances of regime change seem much more remote. If anything, the political situation in Burma is more dismal. In Burma, of course, it is the military leadership who actually have the ruling power, despite the pretence of transferring power to a civilian government through the sham elections of last November.

The parliament elected then will begin its duties in the new capital of Naypyidaw tomorrow, but the military leaders have made sure it will act as a rubber stamp to all they propose.

In Burma, as perhaps in Egypt, there would probably have to be a mass defection in the lower ranks of the military along with a popular revolt to bring about a change in government. But as revealed in the story on page 10 of this week’s Spectrum, ”Film offers glimpse of dissent in army”, this might not be as far-fetched many people might think.

There are other parallels between the situations in Burma and Egypt. Before Nobel laureate and pro-democracy leader Mohamed ElBaradei returned to his native Egypt to 1991 take part in the protests there and was put under house arrest _ much like Nobel laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi _ he gave an interview in Austria. Mr Baradei noted that Egypt had parliamentary elections only two months ago, and ”they were completely rigged. The party of President Hosni Mubarak left the opposition with only 3%. Imagine that. And the American government said that it was dismayed. Well, frankly, I was dismayed that all it could say is that it was dismayed. The word was hardly adequate to express the way the Egyptian people felt.”

If we substitute Egypt for Burma and America for Asean, the story looks familiar.

The key element of the second Russian revolution that saw the total collapse of the Soviet Union was Boris Yeltsen’s ability to halt the advance of the Army on 19 August 1991 by leaping upon a tank as the armoured column rolled into Moscow to crush a people’s revolution.

His Chinese counterpart failed at Tinamen Square. What can happen in Myanmar?

Do what you can to make this a good morning, Myanmar.

Don’t for a second imagine that this couldn’t happen here, in fact it would be easier.

From Obesity Panacea:

The situation in children is, unfortunately, no different. There is evidence that children in both Canada and the USA accumulate more than 6 hours of screen-time (time spent in front of the TV, computer, or other screen-based device) on a daily basis. Keep in mind that screen-time is almost exclusively sedentary (active video games excluded), and that all these hours of sedentary behaviour are in addition to the hours and hours (and hours) that kids spend sitting at school. In fact, a recent study by our colleagues Lindsay Nettlefold and Ashlee McGuire reports that roughly 70% of class time, including physical education class, is completely sedentary (while slightly better than class time, children were also sedentary for the majority of lunch and recess).

I entered school as John Kennedy became president, about the same time our current president was born in Hawaii. All my school years we benefited from the President’s Council on Physical Fitness. Technically the program still exists, but I have the sense from my students that it’s gathering dust under the bleachers.

In the comments, Travis adds:

There are some options – have walking meetings whenever possible, [Have you ever noticed how many walking meetings are held on television shows in law firms, the White House and hospitals? JH] standing rather than sitting on the bus or during presentations, convert your desk to a standing workstation (admittedly this is a tough one). Personally, I am in the process of purchasing this small pedaling machine that can fit under my desk. You can also make changes to your personal life like minimizing TV and computer time outside of work, and simply removing some of the chairs in your house/apartment (again, this one is more difficult).

It really comes down to engaging as many large postural muscles as possible – moving your legs is good, but standing (which engages lots of postural muscles in the back as well as muscles in the legs) is probably better.

I really like the idea of a standing workstation. Hemingway did a great deal of his writing while standing at a mantle.

More tomorrow.

From my dad, of course…

Can you cry under water?

How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?

Why do you have to ‘put your two cents in’… but it’s only a ‘penny for your thoughts’? Where’s that extra penny going to?

Once you’re in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?

What disease did cured ham actually have?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage? Why is it that people say they ‘slept like a baby’ when babies wake up like every two hours?

If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?

Why are you in a movie, but you’re on TV?

Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They’re going to see you naked anyway…

Why is ‘bra’ singular and ‘panties’ plural?

Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?

If the professor on Gilligan’s Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can’t he fix a hole in a boat?

Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They’re both dogs!

If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn’t he just buy dinner?

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

Why did you just try singing the two songs above?

Why do they call it an asteroid when it’s outside the hemisphere, but call it a hemorrhoid when it’s in your butt?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog’s face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window? Why, Why, Why

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting dead? Why do banks charge a fee on ‘insufficient funds’ when they know there is not enough money?

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection? Why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard?

Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets? Whose idea was it to put an ‘S’ in the word ‘lisp’? If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?

Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?

Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?

Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance? Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end on your first try?

How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?

When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart then apologizes for doing so, why do we say, ‘It’s all right?’ Well, it isn’t all right, so why don’t we say, ‘That really hurt, why don’t you watch where you’re going?’ Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that’s falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over? In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?

How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?

And my FAVORITE……. The statistics on sanity is that one out of every four persons are suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends — if they’re okay, then it’s you.

Jokes are like hands and feet for a painter. They may not be what you want to end up doing but you have to master them in the meanwhile. David Hare

Ten rules for writing fiction from The Guardian.

Found in my electronic chapbook.

MYANMAR/BURMA — In affirmation of who remains in power in Myanmar, the nation’s highest court ruled against Aung San Suu Kyi National League for Democracy in its bid to regain legal standing following last year’s faux elections.

From the BBC:

The court ruled the [National League for Democracy] would remain an unlawful association because it refused to register for the recent election.

A lawyer for the NLD said the party could mount no further legal challenge.

The court’s decision leaves Aung San Suu Kyi and her party outside formal politics in Burma. A new parliament, with substantial military presence, convenes for the first time next week.

The NLD won a resounding victory in Burma’s last elections in 1990, but was kept from power by the military junta.

The party refused to re-register in order to take part in November’s election, complaining that the conditions set by the junta were unfair and undemocratic.

Military-backed parties won by far the largest number of seats.

The ruling generals said the election marked a transition to democracy but opposition groups and Western nations have condemned the elections a sham.
Popular support

The Supreme Court ruled that the NLD’s case had no legal basis, said Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer, Nyan Win.

He told the BBC that only the chief justice could now change the ruling and that there was nothing else the NLD could do.

But he said: “Our existence and our legality does not change because of this court decision. Our party still exists. As Aung San Suu Kyi said, what really matters is the support of the people.”

Another senior lawyer for the NLD said he had fully expected to lose the case. The bid to reinstate the party had already been dismissed four times by lower courts.

He said that everyone knew the courts were not independent and that all such trials were a one-way street to defeat.

Do what you can to make this a good morning, Myanmar.

Via Mano Singham…