It's no secret that sedentary behavior contributes to obesity and chronically poor health. But not all sedentary behaviors are created equal, according to a new study that examines the link between blood pressure in children and their choice of inactive pastimes, including watching TV, using the computer and reading.
Researchers in the U.S. and Spain collaborated on the study of 111 children ages 3 to 8 and found that of all the forms of inactivity they examined, television-viewing was the worst. It was linked to significantly higher blood pressure in children - the more TV kids watched, the higher their blood pressure - and the effect held true regardless of whether a child was heavy or at a healthy weight. What's more, other sedentary behaviors, like using a computer, were not associated with similar blood-pressure hikes, according to the study, which was published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.
"These results show that sedentary behavior, and more specifically television-viewing, is related to blood pressure independent of body fat or obesity level," says Dr. Joey Eisenmann, a kinesiologist at Michigan State University and one of the study's co-authors.
To determine levels of inactivity over one week, the children in the study wore accelerometers, which resemble pedometers but instead of tracking distance, they record the body's acceleration in a vertical plane - sitting results in a score of zero, and walking and running produce progressively higher scores. The researchers considered anything under a score of 50 per day as sedentary. They coupled this data with reports from the children's parents about how much time the kids spent in inactive pursuits, including watching television, sitting at a computer, playing video games, reading or doing other projects that don't require much movement.
The children were sedentary for five hours each day, and 1.5 of those hours were spent in front of a TV, computer or video game, on average. When the researchers further broke down screen time by activity, TV-viewing had the strongest correlation with higher blood pressure. Kids watching from 90 to 330 minutes of television each day had systolic and diastolic blood-pressure readings (the two numbers that indicate pressure caused by blood pumping from the top and bottom chambers of the heart, respectively) that were five to seven points higher than those of children watching less than half an hour of television a day.
"These results show that TV-viewing really is the worst of all possible sedentary activities," says Dr. David Ludwig, director of the Optimal Weight for Life Program at Children's Hospital Boston, who was not part of the study. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under 2 should not watch any television and that older children limit their viewing to one to two hours per day.
So what is it about watching TV that's worse than playing video games or surfing the Internet? Certainly, playing games and using computers involve some movement, like fidgeting or changing body positions, but is that enough to explain the difference? The study's authors propose several other possible explanations. For instance, beyond the complete inactivity involved with TV-viewing - which alone raises the risk of high blood pressure - children may be compounding their sloth by eating junk food. "A full bag of chips or a plate of hot dogs can disappear a lot more quickly while watching TV than they might at any other occasion," says Ludwig. And the types of foods that children are likely to be eating in front of the tube, like salty snacks, can push up blood pressure readings.
In addition, say the authors, if kids watch TV too close to bedtime, their minds may remain stimulated just enough to keep them awake and miss out on precious hours of sleep. Cutting short a good night's slumber, past research suggests, can lead to weight gain and hypertension, since the body's metabolism doesn't have enough opportunity to recharge and renew itself overnight.
To those reasons, Ludwig adds a few others. Previous studies have found that watching television lulls people, especially young children, into a low-energy state that is akin to sleeping - that's about as sedentary as a person can get. "Some studies suggest that the metabolic rate can fall even below that of sleeping," he says. "They suggest that children are getting into some deep hypnotic state at times." (See the top 10 TV series of 2008.)
Worse yet is the content of television programming, which Ludwig suggests may have long-lasting repercussions. "There is the possibility that the greatest long-term impact of TV viewing is on children's eating habits through food commercials," he says. Some experts estimate that youngsters are bombarded with 10,000 food commercials each year during children's programming, and most of them aren't promoting salads or fruit. All this marketing, says Ludwig, changes children's taste preferences and causes them to crave - and beg for - unhealthy foods. "Children are seeing these commercials at an age when they are just establishing eating habits that can become ingrained and last a lifetime," he says.
Eisenmann stresses that while the new study found an association between TV-viewing and higher blood-pressure readings, it did not measure whether children developed hypertension. However, in previous studies involving the same group of children, whom he and the other scientists have been studying for four years, about 20% of the children had developed prehypertension or hypertension - often because of weight gain.
Although the study did not follow the children over time, the findings still suggest that TV-viewing has a strong influence on the health of young children. Environmental and lifestyle factors, like diet and inactivity, account for about 70% of a person's blood pressure (genes determine the rest), and high blood pressure at a young age may increase kids' risk of developing heart disease in adulthood. "There is no fundamental biological need for TV-viewing in childhood," says Ludwig. "So these findings certainly warrant follow-up."
Source: Alice Park, Time Magazine
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Cafepress Commits Suicide
CafePress, the world’s leading print-on-demand service, announced a major change June 1st that will have a huge negative impact on its huge community shopkeepers that manage over 6 million shops.
Since 1999, people can upload their designs on CafePress and sell them on t-shirts, stickers, buttons and many other products. The designer determines the price of the product and thus the commission they will earn when the product sells. When someone orders one of your products, CafePress will kick into gear by printing your design and sending it to the customer. The shopkeeper gets the commission. CafePress also has a marketplace where everyone’s designs can be found. For many shopkeepers most of their sales come through the marketplace, as CafePress spends a lot of money on advertising and their pages rank very high in search engines.
What CafePress recently announced that is making everyone very mad is that they will fix all prices in their marketplace and give shopkeepers only 10% of the final retail price. 10% is very low, as some shopkeepers have markups of as high as 30% to 40% to make a living. If in the past a t-shirt had a base price of $15 and the shopkeeper decided to have a $5 markup the t-shirt will sell for $20 and the shopkeeper will get $5. In the new scheme CafePress will be able to determine the retail price of all products in their marketplace and give the shopkeeper only 10%. So if they decide to sell the t-shirt for $18, the shopkeeper will get only $1.80. That is a huge cut in earnings.
In the summer of 2008, CafePress already made some unpopular changes to their volume bonus scheme that resulted in shopkeepers’ income to drop 20% to 30%. As a result of that change some shopkeepers already left CafePress and moved their designs to other print-on-demand sites, like Printfection. This week’s announced change will cut another 50% to 80% off people’s income. This has hundreds of people enraged on CafePress’ forums.
Many shopkeepers have built up a business on CafePress that allowed them to quit their day jobs and work on CafePress full-time. A lot of these people will now be forced to find other jobs in a time when jobs are scarce. There are also people who have managed to make a living off CafePress because their illness prevented them from working out of the house. They are also screwed. Others were laid off from their job and are using CafePress to make some extra money. Thousands of others are relying on CafePress to supplement their income besides their other job(s). For all these people their CafePress income pays for their mortgage, bills and children’s educations. A sudden cute of 50% to 80% in income is outrageous.
It is not only an immoral and greedy business decision, it also doesn’t make any sense from every other perspective. CafePress’ entire community is built on the premise that shopkeepers own their own designs and can determine the markup. Some people just put simple text on their t-shirts and sell them with a low markup. Other designers get expensive graphics software, buy fonts and spend hours or days to make an elaborate design. It makes no sense whatsoever to fix prices on all these designs and to lower people’s markup to 10%.
If CP is smart they will revert this planned change. Many big shopkeepers, who work on CafePress full-time and depend on the income to pay their bills cannot afford the 50% to 80% pay cut. CafePress’ announcement yesterday was the equivalent of laying off thousands of people. Many of these successful shopkeepers have already announced that they will close their CP stores and move to other PODs like Printfection .
If CP goes ahead with this change it will be the end of CafePress.
source: www.wolfstad.com
Since 1999, people can upload their designs on CafePress and sell them on t-shirts, stickers, buttons and many other products. The designer determines the price of the product and thus the commission they will earn when the product sells. When someone orders one of your products, CafePress will kick into gear by printing your design and sending it to the customer. The shopkeeper gets the commission. CafePress also has a marketplace where everyone’s designs can be found. For many shopkeepers most of their sales come through the marketplace, as CafePress spends a lot of money on advertising and their pages rank very high in search engines.
What CafePress recently announced that is making everyone very mad is that they will fix all prices in their marketplace and give shopkeepers only 10% of the final retail price. 10% is very low, as some shopkeepers have markups of as high as 30% to 40% to make a living. If in the past a t-shirt had a base price of $15 and the shopkeeper decided to have a $5 markup the t-shirt will sell for $20 and the shopkeeper will get $5. In the new scheme CafePress will be able to determine the retail price of all products in their marketplace and give the shopkeeper only 10%. So if they decide to sell the t-shirt for $18, the shopkeeper will get only $1.80. That is a huge cut in earnings.
In the summer of 2008, CafePress already made some unpopular changes to their volume bonus scheme that resulted in shopkeepers’ income to drop 20% to 30%. As a result of that change some shopkeepers already left CafePress and moved their designs to other print-on-demand sites, like Printfection. This week’s announced change will cut another 50% to 80% off people’s income. This has hundreds of people enraged on CafePress’ forums.
Many shopkeepers have built up a business on CafePress that allowed them to quit their day jobs and work on CafePress full-time. A lot of these people will now be forced to find other jobs in a time when jobs are scarce. There are also people who have managed to make a living off CafePress because their illness prevented them from working out of the house. They are also screwed. Others were laid off from their job and are using CafePress to make some extra money. Thousands of others are relying on CafePress to supplement their income besides their other job(s). For all these people their CafePress income pays for their mortgage, bills and children’s educations. A sudden cute of 50% to 80% in income is outrageous.
It is not only an immoral and greedy business decision, it also doesn’t make any sense from every other perspective. CafePress’ entire community is built on the premise that shopkeepers own their own designs and can determine the markup. Some people just put simple text on their t-shirts and sell them with a low markup. Other designers get expensive graphics software, buy fonts and spend hours or days to make an elaborate design. It makes no sense whatsoever to fix prices on all these designs and to lower people’s markup to 10%.
If CP is smart they will revert this planned change. Many big shopkeepers, who work on CafePress full-time and depend on the income to pay their bills cannot afford the 50% to 80% pay cut. CafePress’ announcement yesterday was the equivalent of laying off thousands of people. Many of these successful shopkeepers have already announced that they will close their CP stores and move to other PODs like Printfection .
If CP goes ahead with this change it will be the end of CafePress.
source: www.wolfstad.com
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Updoc Films' October 2007 Newsletter
10.09.2007
1. Director's Ramblings
2. Current Feature Update!
3. Welcome to the Cinema
4. The Sonoma Valley Film Festival
5. The Vancouver Island Short Film Festival
6. Behind The Scenes! A Students' Guide To University Chapter 2
www.Updocfilms.com/newsletter
1. Director's Ramblings
Welcome to the October 2007 edition of the Updoc Films Newsletter. Now that summer has come to an end and autumn is upon us, a whirlwind of activity has swept through through our Texas offices. New offerings from Kay Nettle, Devon Grey and Lindy Aleshire are coming online as I write this, a new section to the Updoc Films website called The Cinema is about ready to be unveiled to the world, and a host of exciting, up and coming film festivals are accepting new submissions from around the world. Enjoy the new features and stay tuned for more to come!
2. Current Feature Update
Updoc member and stop motion filmmaker extraordinare Kay Nettle released her latest Lego short film Transformation amongst the pandemonium of the 2007 Kinetoscopic Wonderment. Winning top prize during the festival, we're excited to be able to share her latest offering and hope that the film will have you screaming "I Love it!" as much we did. Click here to have a peak.
3. Welcome to The Cinema
For a few months now we've been working through a new design to help streamline video presenations on the Updoc Film website. With The Cinema going live on October 9th, we've done away with our previous habit of using numerous pop up video windows in order to play our short films. The staff here hopes that The Cinema will make navigating the Updoc Film database a more pleasant experience.
4. The Sonoma Valley Film Festival
The Sonoma Valley Film Festival announced today that it is currently accepting film entries for the 11th annual festival, taking place April 9 – 13, 2008, in the following categories: Feature, Documentary, Short Film and Animation. To learn more, visit the official website
5.The Vancouver Island Short Film Festival
Filmmakers have until December 1st to enter the third annual Vancouver Island Short Film Festival, a showcase of original films by local filmmakers. Last year's festival was a huge success, with a sold out crowd enjoying seventeen incredible short films. For more information, email admin@visff.com
6.Behind The Scenes! A Students' Guide To University Chapter 2
Devon Grey recently sent us a sneak peak of his latest short film currently in production. He has been tight-lipped concerning the content of the short film, saying only that the film explores themes of brainwashing, manufacturing consent, technology and the hidden corproate agenda surrounding any University. Most of the staff here tend to agree that these images certainly follow along those lines, but are a little confused as to the role of the drill. Click here for the full behind the scenes!
© Updoc Films, 2007
Updoc Films respects your privacy. We protect your personal information and adhere to all legislative requirements with respect to privacy. We do not rent, sell or trade our mailing lists. We use your personal information to provide services and to keep you informed and up to date on the activities of the Updoc Films, its members and like-minded organizations including exhibits, programes, special events, and opportunities to volunteer. If at any time you wish to be removed from Updoc Films newlsetter mailing list, simply reply to this email with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. Please allow 7 business days to update our records.
1. Director's Ramblings
2. Current Feature Update!
3. Welcome to the Cinema
4. The Sonoma Valley Film Festival
5. The Vancouver Island Short Film Festival
6. Behind The Scenes! A Students' Guide To University Chapter 2
www.Updocfilms.com/newsletter
1. Director's Ramblings
Welcome to the October 2007 edition of the Updoc Films Newsletter. Now that summer has come to an end and autumn is upon us, a whirlwind of activity has swept through through our Texas offices. New offerings from Kay Nettle, Devon Grey and Lindy Aleshire are coming online as I write this, a new section to the Updoc Films website called The Cinema is about ready to be unveiled to the world, and a host of exciting, up and coming film festivals are accepting new submissions from around the world. Enjoy the new features and stay tuned for more to come!
2. Current Feature Update
Updoc member and stop motion filmmaker extraordinare Kay Nettle released her latest Lego short film Transformation amongst the pandemonium of the 2007 Kinetoscopic Wonderment. Winning top prize during the festival, we're excited to be able to share her latest offering and hope that the film will have you screaming "I Love it!" as much we did. Click here to have a peak.
3. Welcome to The Cinema
For a few months now we've been working through a new design to help streamline video presenations on the Updoc Film website. With The Cinema going live on October 9th, we've done away with our previous habit of using numerous pop up video windows in order to play our short films. The staff here hopes that The Cinema will make navigating the Updoc Film database a more pleasant experience.
4. The Sonoma Valley Film Festival
The Sonoma Valley Film Festival announced today that it is currently accepting film entries for the 11th annual festival, taking place April 9 – 13, 2008, in the following categories: Feature, Documentary, Short Film and Animation. To learn more, visit the official website
5.The Vancouver Island Short Film Festival
Filmmakers have until December 1st to enter the third annual Vancouver Island Short Film Festival, a showcase of original films by local filmmakers. Last year's festival was a huge success, with a sold out crowd enjoying seventeen incredible short films. For more information, email admin@visff.com
6.Behind The Scenes! A Students' Guide To University Chapter 2
Devon Grey recently sent us a sneak peak of his latest short film currently in production. He has been tight-lipped concerning the content of the short film, saying only that the film explores themes of brainwashing, manufacturing consent, technology and the hidden corproate agenda surrounding any University. Most of the staff here tend to agree that these images certainly follow along those lines, but are a little confused as to the role of the drill. Click here for the full behind the scenes!
© Updoc Films, 2007
Updoc Films respects your privacy. We protect your personal information and adhere to all legislative requirements with respect to privacy. We do not rent, sell or trade our mailing lists. We use your personal information to provide services and to keep you informed and up to date on the activities of the Updoc Films, its members and like-minded organizations including exhibits, programes, special events, and opportunities to volunteer. If at any time you wish to be removed from Updoc Films newlsetter mailing list, simply reply to this email with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. Please allow 7 business days to update our records.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Newsletter: February 7th, 2007
1. Director's Ramblings
Welcome to the February 2007 edition of the Updoc Films Newsletter. There is much on the horizon with a variety of film festivals abound, upcoming projects scheduled into editing suites and productions lining up faster than Heather Graham's series got canned. The year ahead promises to be an exciting one for Updoc Films alumni.
Devon Grey's recent surprise short film Summertime Fun starts off the new year light-heartedly, recounting a summer afternoon spent with his wife and daughters. It's a nice reminder of what summer felt like while most of us are stuck in the middle of winter.
Summertime Fun was originally a thirty minute long single shot film, sped up into a time lapse feature that plays for a total length of a minute and a half. Some things just fall into place! Check out Updoc Films' Current Feature to have a peak.
3. Kinetoscopic Wonderment 2007
The entire Updoc Films staff and creative crew will be attending this year's Kinetoscopic Wonderment at the University of Texas at Austin. This annual showing of short films has become a tradition within the computer sciences department and a favourite among the staff and professors.
Because the festival experienced a dip in submissions last year, Updoc Films will be out in
full force, entering a minimum of four submissions in an effort to keep this snazzy and well executed local film festival alive and kicking for years to come. And this year, they're giving away money! Woo hoo!
Kinetoscopic Wonderment will be taking place on Friday, April 13th, 2007 in the Texas Union Building. Awards will be presented that evening as well. For additional information and to view last year's winners, check their official website.
4. Worldwide Short Film Festival
Canadian Film Centre's short film festival is running this year from June 12th to the 17th in Toronto. As the premier venue for the exhibition and promotion of short film in North America, the festival guarantees that the incredible scope of talent will astound you! For more information, check out their official website.
5. Behind The Scenes; Corporate Media Survival Guide #2
Devon Grey's Corporate Media Survival Guide Part 2; How The News Works is currently in the editing suite here at Updoc Studios. Here are some still shots of his latest cartoon:
"This section talks about the eleven corporations that control and filter down information that ends up on the six o'clock news. In controlling the information, they help to shape and control popular attitudes." -Dg.
"Another corporate laden moment in the film is the discussion of how news information is manipulated by sponsorships, advertising and the agendas of corporations. Money talks, and in doing so, what we take at face value via the television is skewed." -Dg.
"Also discussed in How The News Works is the role of corporate flack producers, who although claim they work for fairness towards a balanced media approach to the truth, actually are motivated by a staunch right wing agenda." -Dg.
To complement Updoc Films' entrance into the 2007 Texas Biennial, we've started production of Banned Special Edition DVD.
Fullscreen Presentation
2.1 Stereo Sound
Alternative Sound Track
Special Features include:
Director Commentary
Photo Gallery
Documentary - Behind The Scenes
Documentary - Education vs. Exposure
Documentary - Free Expression in The Arts
Deleted Scenes
$19.99 - shipping begins March 1st, 2007
For more information, check out DevonGrey.com
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