Study: Mom's wrong, slouching is good for you

Researchers say slouching in your chair can be better for your back than sitting upright.

"Really the best position is what you get in a La-Z-Boy, although that wouldn't work well for someone using a computer," Dr. Waseem Amir Bashir of Woodend Hospital in Aberdeen, Scotland, told the Chicago Tribune.

Bashir recommends a 135-degree angle between the thighs and torso because it puts less strain on the lower back than the typical 90-degree angle. (LiveScience has a graphic that shows the ideal posture. So does the Times of London.) Bashir says leaning forward while using the computer is the most problematic position.

“We were not created to sit down for long hours, but somehow modern life requires the vast majority of the global population to work in a seated position, The best position for our backs is arguably lying down, but this is hardly practical,” Bashir told the Times.

What was your posture like when you started reading this posting?

Dulce Et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen, 8 October 1917 - March, 1918

Note:
1 DULCE ET DECORUM EST - the first words of a Latin saying (taken from an ode by Horace). The words were widely understood and often quoted at the start of the First World War. They mean "It is sweet and right." The full saying ends the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - it is sweet and right to die for your country. In other words, it is a wonderful and great honour to fight and die for your country

Wayne, Wayne come out and play

Wayne and I went to school together
Education, his mother and father thought would make his life better
But something happened one day
I am not sure what it was, even today
But Wayne became homeless
And the streets of Kingston became his new address

I am happy Wayne did not migrate
To Canada, or even to America
I can just imagine how his feelings would be hurt
Being cast as "homeless" dirt
Instead of being Wayne the man
Wayne Micheal Brown, and not just another homeless man

I am sure you would like Wayne
If you saw him walking down the street
In sunshine or in rain
Soaking up the hot sun
Unafraid of getting sun burnt
And while we go through the hassle to travel to sunny shores
He spends his day chilling or looking at the pretty stores
Content to be Wayne, the man
Instead of being just another homeless man

imadon @ 2006

Winter's Love

Who will kiss Winter in November
Kiss away the sadness in her eyes
Wipe away her tears
Embrace her
Ask how she is really feeling
Was it a mild Winter's day ?
Or not as warm as yesterday

So she sheds a tear
And hides her heart, so wanting of warmth and love
Thinking that there is no one to comfort her
Or cheer her up when she is sad
Or wonder how she is feeling
In the stillness of the darkest of nights
But Winter, I will embrace thee,
Even as I shiver, on those coldest of nights

Imadon @2006

Dancing

Dancing could be such an intimate affair
That I often wondered what was there
In dancing against a wall or in a line
Seems like a waste of precious time

Nothing could be more sensuous
As holding one who was voluptuous
But then who really has time to dance
Or add spice to romance


imadon @ 2006

You can find love on a snowy day

People tend to have a vision in their head of the type of person they want
and they are not usually open to other things
so you better match what they want perfectly or you are hooped
or you may have to compromise
and may still get hooped
but just when you may want to give up
true love will find you
so never give up on love on a snowy day

imadon @ 2006

When love goes sour

One of the casualties of a broken love
Is truth
After he said and she said
You wonder what it was
That was really said
When two hearts had joined as one
You wonder what each saw in the other
And you wonder if love really could matter
When it is destroyed
At the expense of truth

imadon @ 2006

Succeeding

Most people you meet
Will tell you how often they succeed
But the few honest ones
Will tell you about things that went wrong
It's not a failure to fail
Because in so doing we embrace
We learn to avoid things that can go wrong
So go forth and try with all your might
Remembering that failure will only make you stronger
And what experiences can you get
When there is neither pain nor regret

Imadon @ 2006