Archive for January 2006
January 30, 2006
Democratic Process, the Terrorist Way
9:12 pm | Politics | Religion | Thoughts | Comments: 14
Was anybody not skeptical about how Palestine would handle democratic bric-a-brac like elections? Only the hardcore idealists. The Palestinians made the very wise and forward-looking move of electing a terrorist organization to run their pseudo-country. Funny thing about Palestine holding these elections; it was supposed to legitimatize the Palestinian goverment. Instead, the country is now in the hands of Hamas, a bunch of crazy Moslem nutjobs. The alternative to Hamas was Fatah, which, in contrast to Hamas, is a bunch of crazy Moslem nutjobs.
The Democratic Way was given a whole new flavor last saturday with the addition of the Crazy Moslem Nutjob Way. Terrorists Moslems with guns, members of Fatah, stormed the Palestinian parliament building in protest of the election results. Democratic Process says let the people decide; Crazy Moslem Nutjob Process says kill the infidels. Sounds to me like a match made in heaven.
Originally as I wrote this post, I inserted the word “radical” in between “crazy” and “Moslem” throughout the post. I removed it, because the truth is the sort of terrorist behavior we see out of these Hamas and Fatah lunatics isn’t all that radical within the Moslem system. What I love about all this is that we’re no longer seeing Moslems mad at “Zionists” and Israelis; now they’re hopping mad at each other. I can’t wait until the ultimate show-down when they all die in one massive mutual car-bombing and a real government can be set up in Palestine.
January 17, 2006
The Good Old Hockey Game
1:29 am | Pictures | Sport | Comments: 13
Posting some picture action from the Red Wings game Saturday vs. the New York Rangers (not the Chicago Blackhawks as I originally thought).
Joe Louis Arena
The Red Wings during warmups - most notably Brendan Shanahan (14), Niklas Lidstrom (5), and Pavel Datsyuk (13).
Chris Chelios (24) is the oldest active player in the NHL this season, seen here skating with Niklas Lidstrom and Kirk Maltby.
January 11, 2006
Facts about Sleep and Fatigue
1:50 pm | Health | Sci/Tech | Comments: 20
This is taken from the website of the Roads and Traffic Authority.
Circadian Rhythm
Circadian rhythms are physiological cycles that follow a daily pattern. We are “programmed” by our circadian rhythms to sleep at night and to be awake during the day.
During nighttime hours and to a lesser extent during afternoon “siesta” hours, most types of human performance are significantly impaired, including our ability to drive.1
Problems occur if we disrupt our natural sleep cycles (eg by staying awake during the night), do not get enough sleep, or get poor quality sleep.
Circadian rhythms cannot be reversed. Even if you have been working nightshifts for many years, your body will still be programmed to sleep at night.
Sleep Debt
The human body requires a certain amount of sleep each night to function effectively. The average amount of sleep a person needs is 8 hours. When we reduce the number of hours we sleep at night we start to accumulate what is called a ’sleep debt’.
Sleep debt is defined as the difference between the hours of sleep a person needs and the hours of sleep a person actually gets.
For example, if a person needs 8 hours of sleep per night but only gets 6 hours of sleep one night, they have a sleep debt of two hours. These lost hours of sleep need to be replaced.
When we have sleep debt, our tendency to fall asleep the next day increases. The larger the sleep debt, the stronger the tendency to fall asleep. 2
Sleep debt does not go away by itself. Sleeping is the only way to reduce your sleep debt.
Sleep Inertia
Sleep inertia is the feeling of grogginess after awakening and temporarily reduces your ability to perform even simple tasks.
Sleep inertia can last from 1 minute to 4 hours, but typically lasts 15-30 minutes.
The severity of sleep inertia is dependent on how long you have been asleep and the stage of sleep at awakening.3 Effects can be severe if a person is very sleep deprived or has been woken from a deep sleep stage. However, sleep inertia can usually be reversed within 15 minutes by activity and noise.
Sleep inertia can cause impairment of motor and cognitive functions and can affect a person’s ability to drive safely. Sleep inertia can be very dangerous for people who drive in the early morning hours and shortly after waking up from a sleep.
Microsleeps
Microsleeps are brief, unintended episodes of loss of attention associated with events such as blank stare, head snapping, prolonged eye closure, etc., which may occur when a person is fatigued but trying to stay awake to perform a monotonous task like driving a car or watching a computer screen.4
Microsleep episodes last from a few seconds to several minutes, and often the person is not aware that a microsleep has occurred. In fact, microsleeps often occur when a person’s eyes are open.
While in a microsleep, a person fails to respond to outside information. A person will not see a red signal light or notice that the road has taken a curve.
Microsleeps are most likely to occur at certain times of the day, such as pre-dawn hours and mid-afternoon hours when the body is “programmed” to sleep.
Microsleeps increase with cumulative sleep debt. In other words, the more sleep deprived a person is, the greater the chance a microsleep episode will occur.
In one study of microsleep, participants were asked to press a button when a strobe light was flashed directly in their eyes every few seconds. During a microsleep they did not notice the light and were not even aware that they had been asleep.5
Below is a link to the television commercial from the latest driver fatigue public education campaign featuring Dr Karl Kruszelnicki discussing the dangers of having a microsleep while driving. This campaign was launched in December 2001.
1. Moore-Ede, Martin. ‘Circadian Rhythms and the Biological Clock’.
http://www.circadian.com/learning_center/biological_clock.htm
2. Loughborough Sleep Research Centre Dement, William C. ‘Sleep Debt’ 2000.
http://www.sleepquest.com/d_column_archive6.html.
3. Tassi, P., Muzet, A. ‘Sleep Inertia’. Sleep Medicine Reviews, Vol.4, No. 4, 341-353. August, 2000.
4. Moore-Ede, Martin. ‘Alertness and Fatigue: Microsleeps’.
http://www.circadian.com/learning_center/biological_clock.htm
5. Dement, W.C. ‘Some must watch while some must sleep’. San Francisco, CA: W.H. Freeman. 1974
January 6, 2006
Congratulations
3:14 am | My Life | Pictures | Relationships | Comments: 4
On New Year’s Eve, 2005, my cousin Michelle married Bryden Ouwendyk. I wish them God’s grace and mercy as they set out on their path as husband and wife. Bryden is a good man, and will no doubt be a good cousin-in-law. Welcome to the family, Bryden. I still lament that there was no open mic at the reception, but there will no doubt be more open mics in the future. Huzzah!
