Fun fact of the day:

[MaryMary]

 

[MaryMary]

@Becky, I found these articles a couple months ago, and I've been saving them for you. I thought you might be interested in reading them.

Scientists have collected and summarized studies looking at how video games can shape our brains and behavior. Research to date suggests that playing video games can change the brain regions responsible for attention and visuospatial skills and make them more efficient. The researchers also looked at studies exploring brain regions associated with the reward system, and how these are related to video game addiction.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170622103824.htm

Playing "action" video games improves a visual ability crucial for tasks like reading and driving at night, a new study says. The ability, called contrast sensitivity function, allows people to discern even subtle changes in shades of gray against a uniformly colored backdrop.

It's also one of the first visual aptitudes to fade with age.

That's why a regular regimen of action video game training can provide long-lasting visual power, according to work led by Daphne Bavelier of the University of Rochester.

Games for Better Vision

Previous research shows that gaming improves other visual skills, such as the ability to track several objects at the same time and paying attention to a series of fast-moving events, Bavelier said. https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090329-video-game-vision.html

Action video gamers tend to be more attune to their surroundings while performing tasks like driving down a residential street, where they may be more likely to pick out a child running after a ball than a non-video gamer. ....(snip)... people who play action video games can process visual information more quickly and can track 30 percent more objects than non video game players. https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/05/0528_030528_videogames.html

Game on, Becky!!

 

[Becky]

Wow, those are certainly very interesting points! I was actually thinking about the benefits of gaming the other day - I know that it can help with problem solving abilities, but I was wondering about the effect of gaming as we age? It certainly seems to be the case that learning new things can help keep the mind sharp, and I wonder if gaming works in the same way. Certainly when I'm retired I'll be playing lots of games, so I hope so!

 

[MaryMary]

I hadn't really thought about it before, but it does make sense that if you live or die depending on whether you see that enemy - you'd be more likely to have better observation skills. And better reflexes / reaction time, too!

30% better!! Woot!

"Turn that off, it'll rot your brain!!"

 

[Becky]

"Turn that off, it'll rot your brain!!"

Haha I used to get told that all the time! My mum was a proper telly addict, she used to watch soap operas and all kinds of rubbish, so it felt more than a little hypocritical!

 

[Daren]

What is a Sage.

A Sage is a profoundly wise person. It is a label that has to be earned and the word Sage is then used by others to describe the individual. Not an egotistical person who places the label of Sage on himself or herself,

Sage is also an evergreen shrub with dusty green-grey leaves and woody stems. There are many varieties of sage, but the species used for culinary purposes is known as common sage, garden sage, or Salvia officinalis. In addition to culinary use, this herb is also used medicinally and even simply as an ornamental shrub.

Fact of the Day..............

 

[MaryMary]

@Chuck, I remember back in March, @trail twister posted a thread in which you commented that you had never seen a hawk eat carrion.

When I read this, I wanted you to see it, and couldn't decide where to put it, so it's a Fun fact of the day!!

Here is the article I read:

Canadian hares are cannibals and eat meat, surprising photos reveal

In an ironic twist, the mammals also dine on carcasses of their main predator, the Canada lynx, a new study says.

www.nationalgeographic.com

I guess cows, squirrels, and Appalachian rabbits have been seen eating meat. The squirrels actually hunt and kill lemmings!

Not so vegan after all: Yukon's snowshoe hares are cannibalistic carnivores -- Sott.net

Your fluffy pet bunny's cousin is actually a carnivore-and a cannibal, new photographs reveal for the first time. Snowshoe hares in Canada's Yukon Territory eat meat to supplement their diets during long winters in one of the coldest places on...

www.sott.net

 

[Chuck]

@Chuck, I remember back in March, @trail twister posted a thread in which you commented that you had never seen a hawk eat carrion.

When I read this, I wanted you to see it, and couldn't decide where to put it, so it's a Fun fact of the day!!

Here is the article I read:

Canadian hares are cannibals and eat meat, surprising photos reveal

In an ironic twist, the mammals also dine on carcasses of their main predator, the Canada lynx, a new study says.

www.nationalgeographic.com

I guess cows, squirrels, and Appalachian rabbits have been seen eating meat. The squirrels actually hunt and kill lemmings!

Not so vegan after all: Yukon's snowshoe hares are cannibalistic carnivores -- Sott.net

Your fluffy pet bunny's cousin is actually a carnivore-and a cannibal, new photographs reveal for the first time. Snowshoe hares in Canada's Yukon Territory eat meat to supplement their diets during long winters in one of the coldest places on...

www.sott.net

Good Grief! I am surrounded by squirrels, rabbits and cows. HELP!!! AND i AM GETTING TOO OLD TO DEFEND MYSELF

 

[Logan]

I've just googled it and their stomachs aren't designed to eat meat, they would get tummy ache and they could die, they need a lot of fiber.

 

[MaryMary]

Good Grief! I am surrounded by squirrels, rabbits and cows. HELP!!! AND i AM GETTING TOO OLD TO DEFEND MYSELF

You don't fool me! You're probably firing up the grill and trying to figure out how to bait them in right now!!!

I've just googled it and their stomachs aren't designed to eat meat, they would get tummy ache and they could die, they need a lot of fiber.

Logan, I am a little confused by your answer. They are finding it and eating it on their own! (I could see that their teeth aren't designed for ripping and chewing meat. Or that it might be hard to pass through the intestine without enough fiber. But I don't think the amount they are choosing to eat would be fatal.)

Plants, especially plant proteins would be especially hard to find in the Yukon in the winter; I'd take a stomach ache over agonizing slow death by starvation any day of the week!

Yukon = 3 to 7 feet average annual snowfall. (Between .9 to a little over 2 meters.) Plants? ... What plants?!?

 

[Logan]

It's only what i found on Google.
If people have pet rabbits don't feed them meat.