Author Archives: markdowe1

Arts, Psychology, Science

A study finds those who regularly read books are kinder and more emphatic

EFFECTS OF READING

Benefits of reading: Having your nose in a book might seem a little anti-social at times – but reading could actually make you a kinder, more empathetic person, a study has found.

Being regularly engaged and engulfed in books might seem a little anti-social at times, but research has revealed that reading could actually make you a kinder and more empathetic person.

Readers were more likely to act in a socially acceptable manner while those who preferred watching television came across as less friendly and less understanding of others’ views, researchers said.

The 123 participants in the study were quizzed on their preferences for books, TV and plays at Kingston University, London.

They were then tested on interpersonal skills, such as how much they considered people’s feelings and whether they acted to help others.

Researchers told the British Psychological Society conference in Brighton that fiction fans showed more positive social behaviour.

Readers of drama and romance novels were also empathic, while lovers of experimental books showed the ability to see things from different perspectives.

Comedy fans scored the highest for relating to others.

The study suggested reading allows people to see different points of view, enabling them to understand others better.

The researchers added: ‘Exposure to fiction relates to a range of empathetic abilities.

‘Engaging with fictional prose and comedy in particular could be key to enhancing people’s empathetic abilities.’

However, the authors warned the study did not prove cause-and-effect.

So it could be that reading causes positive behaviour, or it could be that thoughtful, well-mannered people are more likely to prefer reading.

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Fitness, Health

A 7-minute workout by a leading physiologist…

Health & Fitness

For real results exercise must be a regular habit. Use weights for both strength and speed, an excellent way of improving fitness, metabolism and general wellbeing.

If you’ve renewed your commitment to getting fit now that spring is in full swing, you may be wondering how much time that goal will require.

If you want your workouts to produce real results, exercise has to be a regular habit, says Chris Jordan, the exercise physiologist who came up with the 7-minute workout. Jordan’s now-viral routine, officially called the “Johnson & Johnson Official 7 Minute Workout” is designed to give you the benefits of a trip to the gym in just a few minutes.

“Skipping workouts can prevent you from achieving optimal results, whatever your specific fitness goal,” Jordan says.

To start seeing results from your fitness plan — whether you’re looking for physical signs like leaner limbs and toned muscles or psychological ones like improved mood and higher energy levels — you should aim to exercise at least three to five days each week. And that doesn’t mean simply lifting a few weights on those days.

“You should aim to do cardiovascular exercise [like running on a treadmill, riding a bike, or doing high-intensity interval training] three to five days each week and resistance training [like planks, squats, or leg raises] two to three days per week,” Jordan says.

The results you see will vary based on your current fitness level. If you’re new to regular workouts and start doing resistance training two or three days each week, you may start building muscle in just a few weeks. But if you’ve been a regular at a gym or yoga studio for several months, you’ll want to step it up a notch and work your body at least four days per week.

Jordan suggests interspersing different types of workouts to target various regions of your body. This will help you avoid fatigue and maximize your time. Here’s an example five-day training plan:

Monday: Cycling and upper body resistance training, like arm raises

Tuesday: Yoga and lower body resistance training, like squats

Wednesday: Running and upper body resistance training, like bench presses

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Boxing and lower body resistance training, like leg raises

Research suggests you can also use high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which combines the cardiovascular benefits of cycling or running with resistance training, to achieve the same or similar results. If you like HIIT, the 7-minute workout is a great place to start.

Whichever workout you try, however, the most important thing is to keep doing it.

“To achieve results,” says Jordan, “consistency is key.”

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China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, United Nations, United States

The United States warns: ‘be prepared for military action against North Korea’

NORTH KOREA

south-korea-us-military-drill

The United States is prepared for military action against the threat posed by North Korea.

America’s National Security Adviser, Lieutenant General HR McMaster, has said America should be “prepared” to take military action against North Korea.

McMaster has called on other world powers to prevent the rebellious regime from developing a nuclear arsenal, saying the state was acting in “open defiance of the international community”.

Although he said the Trump administration would prefer to “work with others” to resolve the issue “short of military action”, he said the US must be prepared for its armed forces to intervene.

“North Korea poses a grave threat to the United States, our great allies in the region, South Korea and Japan … but also to China and others. And so, it’s important, I think, for all of us to confront this regime,” he said.

He added: “This regime is pursuing the weaponisation of a missile with a nuclear weapon. This is something that we know we cannot tolerate … The President has made clear that he is going to resolve this issue one way or another.”

“It may mean ratcheting up those sanctions even further and it also means being prepared for military operations if necessary.”

President Donald Trump has said he would “not be happy” if North Korea carried out another missile test, adding that his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping would likely feel the same.

He refused to say whether this meant military action, saying: “We shouldn’t be announcing all our moves. It is a chess game. I just don’t want people to know what my thinking is.”

Mr Trump also called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un “a pretty smart cookie” for being able to hang onto power after taking over the isolationist state at a young age.

On Saturday, a North Korean mid-range ballistic missile appeared to fail shortly after launch, the third such failure this month.

North Korean ballistic missile tests are banned by the United Nations because they are seen as part of the North’s drive to produce a nuclear-armed missile that could reach the US mainland.

  • 02 May 2017

– Japan sends its biggest warship to defend U.S. supply vessel in the Korean peninsula

Japan is to deploy its biggest warship to help protect the threat posed by North Korea. It will accompany a U.S. supply vessel as tensions continue to mount in neighbouring waters over North Korea’s missile tests. This will be the first Japanese operation since the East Asian country relaxed laws limiting its military activity. Japan is at serious risk of being attacked by North Korea, not least because it is now a close US ally.

The U.S. supply vessel has been dispatched to refuel American naval forces in the region, including the Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group that North Korea has threatened to sink.

Under conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan has been gradually expanding the role of its heavily-regulated military. The country’s post-World War II constitution means it can only use force in cases of self-defence.

A 2015 update expanded this to cover some acts of “collective self-defence,” such as protecting the equipment of an ally who is defending Japan.

Japan’s helicopter carrier, the Izumo, is 249 meters long and can carry up to nine helicopters, according to military records.

It will depart from Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, to join the U.S. ship, and protect it on its journey to the sea off Shikoku in western Japan.

North Korea launched a missile test on Saturday. U.S. and South Korean officials said the test, from an area north of the North Korean capital Pyongyang, appeared to have failed, in what would be the North’s fourth consecutive unsuccessful missile test since March.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he would not rule out the possibility of military action against the dictatorship. Mr Trump said Americans should not underestimate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s intelligence, and added: “We have a situation that we just cannot let — we cannot let what’s been going on for a long period of years continue.”

The Korean War between the capitalist South and communist North, which paused in 1953 with a ceasefire, has never formally ended. U.S. troops were embroiled in the conflict.

– North Korea warns of nuclear test ‘at any time’

North Korea Fifth Nuclear Test

Pyongyang has promised to test its nuclear and ballistic missile capability on a regular basis. The United States says it is ready to attack North Korea if it conducts another nuclear test.

North Korea has warned today that it will carry out a nuclear test “at any time and at any location” set by its leadership, in the latest rhetoric to fuel jitters in the region.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been running high for weeks, with signs that the North might be preparing a long-range missile launch or a sixth nuclear test – and with Washington refusing to rule out a military strike in response.

A spokesman for the North’s foreign ministry said Pyongyang was “fully ready to respond to any option taken by the US”.

The regime will continue bolstering its “pre-emptive nuclear attack” capabilities unless Washington scrapped its hostile policies, he said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency.

“The DPRK’s measures for bolstering the nuclear force to the maximum will be taken in a consecutive and successive way at any moment and any place decided by its supreme leadership,” the spokesman added, apparently referring to a sixth nuclear test and using the North’s official name, the Democratic Republic of Korea.

The North has carried out five nuclear tests in the last 11 years and is widely believed to be making progress towards its dream of building a missile capable of delivering a warhead to the continental United States.

It raises the tone of its warnings every spring, when Washington and Seoul carry out joint exercises it condemns as rehearsals for invasion, but this time fears of conflict have been fuelled by a cycle of threats from both sides.

The joint drills have just ended, but naval exercises are continuing in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) with a US strike group led by the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.

The Pyongyang foreign ministry spokesman said if the North was not armed with “the powerful nuclear force”, Washington would have “committed without hesitation the same brigandish aggression act in Korea as what it committed against other countries”.

The statement reasserts the North’s long-running rhetoric on its military capabilities.

Seoul also regularly warns that Pyongyang can carry out a test whenever it decides to do so.

Pyongyang’s latest attempted show of force was a failed missile test on Saturday that came just hours after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pressed the UN Security Council to do more to push the North into abandoning its weapons programme.

Tillerson warned the UN Security Council last week of “catastrophic consequences” if the world does not act and said that military options for dealing with the North were still “on the table”.

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