(From guest Blogger, Jenn Tran)
If you are not lucky enough to work in an office that holds hula hoop contests or has a started a building wide stair master craze, then the Wii Fit video game may just be just the thing for you.
Nintendo is targeting the growing breed of casual gamers who also have an affinity for eastern forms of exercise. Makes sense, whenever I feel I need to clear my mind I reach for my wireless Guitar Hero controller and battle with Slash (he usually wins though). But to trump my faux rocker meditation time, Wii Fit is also providing aerobic exercises on top of that.
I remember back in the day when I had to do the Downward-Facing Dog and had to force myself not to snicker during yoga class. Those days can now be long gone!
Here’s a really in depth review on the game from wired.com.
And the whole shebang on the Nintendo site.
Tim's note: I was at Best Buy this weekend and, lo and behold, no WiiFit display. Unusual, wouldn't you say? And, Jenn, if you thought Down Dog is funny, you should see Dead Bug pose.
Or, rather, you get what you think you paid for.
Interesting study in marketing: a cheap (10 cent) pill doesn't kill pain as well as an expensive ($2.50) pill, even when they both are the same placebos.
Crazy, huh?
Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at Duke University, published his findings
in a letter in the March 5th edition of
Journal of the American Medical Association (full text is $15 or read the Science Daily article
here or listen to it on NPR's Morning Edition
here).
Ariely said, "Physicians want to think it's the medicine and not their enthusiasm about a particular drug that makes a drug more therapeutically effective, but now we really have to worry about the nuances of interaction between patients and physicians."
And cost. Don't forget perceptions based on cost.
Consider that researchers from the
California Institute of Technology and
Stanford's business school "have directly seen that the sensation of pleasantness that people experience when tasting wine is linked directly to its price. And that's true even when, unbeknownst to the test subjects,
it's exactly the same Cabernet Sauvignon with a dramatically different price tag."
Researchers found that with higher priced (which were identical to lower priced wines) more blood and oxygen was sent to a part of the brain "whose activity reflects pleasure".
The researchers added: "Contrary to the basic assumptions of economics, several studies have provided behavioral evidence that marketing actions can successfully affect experienced pleasantness by manipulating nonintrinsic attributes of goods. For example, knowledge of a beer's ingredients and brand can affect reported taste quality, and the reported enjoyment of a film is influenced by expectations about its quality.
And, back to the $2.50 pill, "Even more intriguingly, changing the price at which an energy drink is purchased can influence the ability to solve puzzles." (
By way of CNET News.)
Which is why you shouldn't blame me if this post stinks. As I opted for coffee at home to help me write rather than the $4.50 latte up the street at Starbucks.
Here's a first, the un-whoopee cushion:
GasBGon Flatulence Filter
The GasBGon flatulence filter seat cushion is a fun, yet serious solution to the embarrassing problem of malodorous gas (breaking wind).
GasBGon seat cushions apply cutting edge carbon filter technology to
absorb the sound and odor that accompany flatulence. The unique cushioning
property combines to form a dual filter technology to muffle the sound and
the smell.
Highlights from the site for this product:
- Product manufactured by Dairiair,LLC
- Washable black cover for device
- Site provides an "a to z" study on flatulence
- Invented by an air quality and filtration engineer
- Leopard print filter is called "Silent But Deadly"
- Company motto: "Clear the Air, Not the Room"
Sadly, it's only available in the UK as of this post.
Curse you Brits for being ahead of the curve once again!
(Thanks to Daphne, Down Under, for the pass along!)
Many of you (who have good memories, read this blog, and are dying to know what I'm doing in my spare time since I don't watch television) may recall that I started the SharpBrains brain workout in late June.
SharpBrains, is a company focused on producing neuroscience-based products and programs. They make a program called MindFit that: "focuses on life abilities such as: working memory, visual and
auditory short term memory, planning, location memory, naming, time
estimation, divided attention, and hand-eye coordination."
So for the last four weeks or so (five? three? See, this already isn't boding too well) I've been spending 20 minutes three times a week at my home computer partaking in poorly illustrated games while the family is sequestered elsewhere.
The tasks I've been completing?
- Following, with my mouse, a football down a path until the football and the path disappear and making sure I'm keeping my mouse moving at the same speed/direction
- Listening to either a) two sounds or b) two visual signals and trying to determine which is longer (within milliseconds)
- Trying to remember sequences of numbers forwards and backwards
- Playing a version of Mastermind
- Building a simple puzzle while the mouse keeps changing its setting each time (i.e., up is down, left is right, etc.)
I've been sending the results back to the SharpBrains office, but have yet to get feedback. Which is probably good, since there's a 30-day rebate on the program.
I'd love to update you whether or not my mind is any healthier, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to tell you absolutely nothing. I have no idea. I haven't woken up to miraculously discover my brain is working better than ever or that I remember where I put the paperwork to my upcoming trip to Boston (don't worry, it's an eTicket).
All I'm letting you know is that you don't need to rush out an buy this program at this point.
You could have, for instance, a coworker move your mouse the opposite direction when you try to type a letter. Or try to memorize all the phone numbers of your coworkers backwards.
I'll get back to you next month on whether this is worth buying or not.
If I remember.
Probably because I was killing memory brain cells by stressing out.
According to the folks over at SharpBrains, a company focused on producing neuroscience-based products and programs, "Chronic stress...reduces your ability to
focus and can specifically damage cells in the hippocampus, a brain structure critical to encoding short term memory."
Uh oh.
They have an interesting list of To Do's on their site to help everyone feel more in control and less stressed.
You've probably have heard of a lot of these before, but are you forgetting to do them?
Just look at this one: Get regular exercise to burn off those excess stress hormones.
Oops.
But, since my memory has always been on the poor side (just ask anyone here), I'm buying one of their BrainGym programs and give it a whirl to see if it works.
I'm sincerely hoping I haven't bought this program before and forgotten about it.
That would be a great scam, wouldn't it?
I hate the way bike helmets look.
I hate the way they feel.
But I probably would have suffered a massive head injury when a car pulled out in front of my bike and sent me flying in the street 10 years ago.
I'm guessing the guy in this story (who had a truck drive over his helmeted head) probably feels the same.
BTW, my buddy Jerry's bedside manner for this injury? Frozen peas for the wounds, beer for the head.
The winners: Natalie, Becky, Kerry (15 miles!), Andy, and I.
Wait, WE'RE ALL WINNERS! (bwaa haaaa....)
You know you may be a little deranged when you feel the compulsion to blog every day, even with all the fires burning around you (sometimes literally).
It's a busy week, but I did want to let you know, I did manage to bike to work today. (Okay, drove and dropped my kids off at their schools then biked the 4 miles here. Don't want to be a liar.)
Looks like at least some of the Aquent office will be joining me on Thursday, for Bike to Work Day.
In case you haven't looked up a route from your house to work, try this link from BikeMetro, which allows you to choose your skill level (beginner, intermediate, advanced), your hill tolerance (mine is low), and if you want to use public transit on your route. You might want to drive it the first time, I seem to remember selecting no hills and going up an extremely long, winding, busy, and hilly Silverlake Boulevard last year.
If you get a kick out of alternative transportation, then you'll love England's "walking school buses".
(P.S. I'll give some Aquent Silly Putty to the first person who can email me the origin of that quote in the title.)
I usually like to participate Los Angeles Bike to Work Week, at least riding a couple days out of that week (the promise that I'd start riding on Fridays after Daylight Saving Time started hasn't worked out so well). And I was kind of wondering, since it was already May, when I was going to start hearing about it. I got that answer today, when I opened my email at work. It started today. The email was sent Friday night.
Not that I'm the biggest "plan ahead" guy in the world, but wouldn't giving more than 48 hours worth of notice help bring more bicyclers onto the streets?
Just a thought.
Banners on lightposts might help, too. Like the ones they had for the extremely tiny Colfax Elementary School "World Fair".
Okay, I'll take of my Marketing hat for a moment (which is nice, because it's extremely heavy) and tell you, if you haven't thought about commuting to work by bike before, this is a good week to do it. Why?
- You can have your bike blessed at Good Samaritan Hospital, if you feel that will make your ride safer
- You can ride the bus or rail FOR FREE on Thursday, Bike to Work Day
- Snacks, friends, and more at pit stops throughout LA (on Thursday) and Pasadena (all week)
Be sure to check out this Checklist provided by California Bike Commute before heading out. I mean, if you're the planning type (like me). If you're one of those people who doesn't mind coming to the office and discovering you forgot a change of clothes, don't bother.
If you're a Doer, you might want to check out the LA County Bike Coalition site, they're an advocacy group that sponsors some great rides (like the ice cream shop to ice cream shop one in LA) and events (like the bike based film screenings during this week).
Hey, if you're out there, let me know by posting a comment here or by emailing me.
Don't forget your helmet!
Two words:
Meat Raffle
Every Saturday at 2pm at the Hexagon Bar in Minneapolis.
Bring your cooler just in case you win.
(Thanks to Bart, whose brother will be appearing at the bar for some local live music. SXSW watch out!)
(From guest Aquent blogger Becky)
Well it’s real. Yep, doctors and sports nutritionists are now telling us that Pickle Juice is actually good for us. And someone has already begun to capitalize on it:
Pickle Juice Sport
What’s even more amazing than this product being genuinely market-viable (it’s currently being retailed in 7-Eleven and Albertson’s), is the Website! It’s actually GOOD! Which amazes me. How come Web-based companies like Linked-In can continue to have poor UI design and this Pickle Juice company has a good one?
But, if you ask me, I’ll invest. I think UI is a great predictor of whether a company is going to make it or not, because it’s a reflection of whether or not they care about their customer’s perception of them. For more on this read this Forbes article on bad UI design.
And if you don’t have time, just skip to the last paragraph for a laugh.
I miss my bike. I really do.
For a year or so (during Daylight Saving Time) I could ride 4 miles from my son's school to Aquent every Friday . This was a switch up to dropping both my son and daughter off at their preschool and riding from there (5.5 miles). And from the times when I could ride from my home to work (9 miles plus the distance bike tires can fall into a drainage grate).
When I told people I did this, they'd occasionally accuse me of somehow "cheating". As if it wasn't a real ride if I did some of it by car. My defense was how many kids do you see being carried on the back of a bike in Los Angeles? Less than .000000001%? Well, there's a pretty good reason for it. Have you seen how people drive here? They don't buy Hummers due to their great gas mileage.
Regardless, my wife switched her work hours back in the fall and now it's impossible to get two kids to two different schools and myself to work via bike. I've tried working it out in my mind, it's just not going to happen. This will all change next year when my daughter starts kindergarten, which brings me joy to no end.
Because there's nothing like starting a day after riding a bike, not even a double latte. Or whizzing by the $3.49 a gallon station on Fairfax and smiling.
Until then, it's back on the bike trainer and reading or listening to This American Life's podcast.
Which, when I think back to falling into those drainage grates, is not such a bad tradeoff.
We salute you.
If you're bent over your computer all day (aren't we all?), chances are that your upper back is really tight.
Jojo over at the Cool Tools blog discovered this amazing massager when her physical therapist showed her a picture of the similar-looking Thera-cane.
I haven't tried this personally, but it looks much less painful than trying to convince my wife to give me a shoulder massage.
And more HR friendly than asking someone in the office to do it.
Which is well worth $27.
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