Working long hours 'puts us at higher risk of dementia': "Middle-age workers doing more than 55 hours a week have poorer mental skills, including short-term memory and ability to recall words, than those clocking up fewer than 41 hours, a study has found.

The stress and exhaustion of long hours could be as bad for the brain as smoking"

Those doing the most overtime recorded lower scores in two of the five key brain function tests - reasoning and vocabulary. -- or dare I suggest that sub-standard reasoning and poor debate skills might themselves lead to the subject being hoodwinked (by themselves or others) into working those hours? As a monk once told me, "No one diagnosed of a terminal disease ever wished they'd spent more time at the office."

In what is maybe a related story on how animals may be smarter than we think, Daily Grail points out how it is your cat that spends the day lounging on your bed while its you that goes off to work.

Wrath of the Grapevine: "Our Red-Horned Bogieman presented young Michael with the ancient Fiddle of Souls, strung with the strings of pity, of hope, of love, of joy, of death.

Not only was young Michael of Cleveland the only person in history to ever own this fiddle who did not have to give up his soul in exchange for it, but our unnasuming lad was also the only person humble enough to wield such a mighty instrument safely."

Japanorama visits with two new additions to the Asimo line

Globaleyes: "Slowly, Michael opened his eyes. There was a group of people standing above him, some smiling, some looking concerned.
'Did they burn - did they burn it?'
There was silence. 'I think you had a fall young man' said a kindly American voice. 'Take your time'.
Two people sat him up and another offered him a hot drink. He sipped at the thermos without saying anything, his breath rasping in the cold. He shook.
'What happened to me?' Michael asked.
'You fainted' said a woman with a British accent.
'The soldiers. Where did the soldiers go?'
'Oh pet,' she giggled, 'there haven't been any soldiers here for decades'."

From the wretched hive of scum and bloggery that is Blather.net, a multi-media tale to tell that starts at the beginning and runs with it. Be sure to check out the Google Maps Edition

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Jose Abreu on kids transformed by music

The State Foundation for the National System of Youth and Children's Orchestras of Venezuela (FESNOJIV - Fundación del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela) is a government-funded organization, founded by maestro José Antonio Abreu, aimed at systematizing music education and promoting the collective practice of music through symphony orchestras and chorus as a means of social organization and communitarian development, a method Jose calls El Sistema:

Music is not only the product of the talent and virtuosity of its creators; it is the reflection of the soul of the peoples and, in this case, is the outgrowth of an education program that over the past 33 years has spread beyond our borders and has surpassed all expectations.

In the past, art was a matter of minorities for minorities; then it became a matter of minorities for majorities. Nowadays it is a matter of majorities for majorities and a key element to educating and allowing people to integrate successfully into society.

So why should a Stephen Harper opt to pay into a scheme such as this and at a scale such as this? The only sane question is rather to ask how any politician could dare to publically not support El Sistema. You could start with the total eradication of poverty, the revitalization of depressed communities, you could step it up a notch to call McLuhan's observation "When deprived of his identity, man becomes violent in diverse ways. Violence is the quest for identity.", or cite the simple unifying effects of synchronous behaviour, or the leadership maturing effects of large-group logistics and social responsibilities, the care and support to others and to one's instrument. We could talk about a great many things, all of them desirable. All of them doable.

If only we had the collective will to want it. Could be the advantage Venezuela has over Canada for social transformation on this scale is that, for them, the mass FAIL of an entire generation is simply not an option.

King of the Monsters, that is.

On a tip from RoboJapan we learn of the sideline site TOHO Original Goods (株式会社 東宝映像美術) where, absolutely true and legit, for less than a fifth the cost of a lowly hobby-horse you can rent a real original movie-set Godzilla costume from Final Wars or Mechagodzilla!!!

At first I thought this all had to be a put-on, but no it is all legit. How f***ing cool would it be to stage your own Godzilla battle in the back yard, or cruise around the streets of Tokyo dressed as the big G himself?

Indeed! Google translates the details as 1 day / JPY (tax included) +運搬保険1,000円 (+ 1,000 yen carry insurance)

Some fine print that may be important:

Transportation cost, insurance cost additional freight costs. If you would like to SUTSUAKUTA, two actors and a production cost will be added. For more information please contact us.
TEL 03-3749-2111 （代表） FAX 03-3749-2277 TEL 03-3749-2111 (Representative) FAX 03-3749-2277
Contact (Marketing Planning) Okamura County

There's always a catch.

Buying experiences, not possessions, leads to greater happiness: "experiential purchases, such as a meal out or theater tickets, result in increased well-being because they satisfy higher order needs, specifically the need for social connectedness and vitality -- a feeling of being alive.

'These findings support an extension of basic need theory, where purchases that increase psychological need satisfaction will produce the greatest well-being,'"

There is a deep marketing lesson in this finding. I've seen the same experiential-valuation said in the context of youth culture and cellphone products, that the money-makers today are those selling the experience, the sense and feeling of the community and belonging of a brand being more important than the products themselves -- this is, of course, something that has been totally obvious to musicians and stagecrafters for hundreds of centuries, going back to Aristophanes and long before: people don't just buy a coca cola, they buy a ticket on the journey of the drinking. And so much the better if the passage actually takes them someplace.

Where we ever got the idea they wanted to buy bits of imprinted plastic is beyond me. At best, maybe for the rarities, they buy a ticket passage into the lands of expos and tradefairs, but most often is all they've really bought into their ipod any more than just a postcard to a place they've never been?