Month: June 2015

Little Walks

Maria Haymandou’s latest blog post is here!

Maria Haymandou WalkingFor a while now, numerous studies have shown that sitting down for extended periods of time every day leads to an increased risk of health problems, including early death.  Recently, however, a study has revealed that just walking two minutes every hour just might counter the problems that arise from sitting too much.

The study was began by scientists at the University of Utah’s School of Medicine, who used observational data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to examine whether longer amounts of low-intensity activities, such as standing, and light-intensity activities, such as walking, gardening and cleaning, were able to extend the lifespan of people who are sedentary for more than half of their waking hours.  They discovered that there’s no benefit to decreasing sitting by two minutes each hour, and then adding a corresponding two minutes more of low-intensity activities.  However, a “trade-off” of sitting for light intensity activities for two minutes each hour was associated with a 33 percent lower risk of early death.

While the current national focus is on moderate or vigorous physical activity, to see that light activity had such pointed health benefits is an intriguing thing to look at.  The lead author of the study, professor Srinivasan Beddhu, M.D., explained that while it’s obvious that exercising takes energy, plenty of light activities, including strolling, also use energy.  Even short walks, he says, add up to a lot when they’re repeated over and over during the course of a week.  Assuming that people are awake 16 hours each day, two minutes of strolling each hour expends, 400 kcal each week, approaching the 600 kcal each week it takes to accomplish the recommended weekly goal of moderate exercise.  It’s also much larger than the 50 kcal needed to complete low-intensity activities for two minutes each waking hour over the course of a week.  Nonetheless, Beddhu pointed out that large, randomized, interventional trials will be necessary to definitively answer whether exchanging sitting for light activities leads to better health.

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New York: Language Graveyard

Maria Haymandou’s latest blog post

Maria Haymandou Dodo

Over the years, countless langauges have gone the way of the dodo, and as the world gets smaller and smaller, it’s likely that more will follow suit.

Languages have been disappearing or evolving since the beginning of time.  While some survive in one way or another through adopted loan-words or being incorporated into other languages (such as Latin), others fade away entirely as they become obsolete.  Often, people transition out of one language into another, either by choice or because they were forced to, which linguists refer to as a “language shift”.  Take, for instance, Irish Gaelic.  During the 19th century, it was widely spoken in Ireland and Newfoundland, where many Irish had settled.  As both places were a part of the English-speaking British Empire, however, Gaelic was viewed as “backward”, serving as an obstacle for advancement.  At the same time, the Irish Potato Famine hit Gaelic-speaking areas the hardest, and countless speakers either died or emigrated to English-speaking parts of the world, where they quickly assimilated and lost their language.  Gaelic-speaking parents often discouraged the use of the language among their children, until it looked like Irish Gaelic would fade into obscurity.  During the late 19th and early 20th century, however, something amazing happened: a revival in Celtic nationalism saved the Irish language from extinction, and it can now be heard once again throughout Ireland.

However, not all languages are so lucky, fading into extinction as their last native speakers die before sharing their language with other people.  According to UNESCO, about half of the world’s 6,500 languages are “critically endangered”, and could end up going the way of the dodo before the end of the 21st century.  I recently found an interesting article about a proverbial “graveyard” of dying languages, where many of these “critically endangered” tongues are spending their last days: New York City.

Since its founding nearly 400 years ago as a remote Dutch trading post called “New Amsterdam”, New York has been a linguistically and culturally diverse place.  When a French Jesuit priest visited New Amsterdam in the 1640s, he reported a total of 18 different languages spoken amongst the settlements’ several hundred inhabitants.  Nowadays, there are an estimated 800 different languages spoken in New York City’s 5 boroughs, including many that aren’t spoken anywhere else.

When we think of “endangered” languages, it’s easy to imagine some primitive dialect spoken by Stone Age-era tribesmen in the Amazon Rainforest or the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea.  However, New York City, particularly Queens, is home to many dying languages.  Jackson Heights, for instance, is home to a large Nepalese community, where immigrants from remote parts of the country congregate together to preserve their language and culture.  Many of them live within a few blocks of each other, and meet regularly for various social events where they chat away in their endangered dialect.  And in a place as diverse as Queens, many of these immigrants grow up speaking a variety of languages so that they can communicate with their neighbors, and it isn’t uncommon for somebody to grow up a polyglot.

Recently, two linguists and a performance poet set up the Endangered Language Alliance, an urban initiative for endangered language research and conversation.  There have been several languages who died in the streets of the Empire City over the years, and countless others who are in danger of following suit.  In recent history, there have been many communities that leave their homeland to settle in New York.  Take, for example, the Gottscheers of Slovenia, descended from ethnic Germans who settled in the Balkans in the Middle Ages.  Surrounded by Slavic-speaking populations, the Gottscheers remained isolated from other Germanic populations, and their dialect developed independently of German, so that it became unintelligible to German speakers.  In the aftermath of World War II, the last speakers of the Gottscheer dialect ended up in New York City, bringing their language with them.

Being the last speaker of a dying language can be a lonely experience; you have nobody to talk to in your native tongue.  Recently, the Endangered Language Alliance have been recording many other “endangered” languages they discovered in the streets of New York, such as Garifuna from Central America or Mamuju from Indonesia, recordings which could very well be the first ever digital documents of these languages being spoken.

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David’s Brisket House

Maria Haymandou’s latest blog post

Maria Haymandou David's

While David’s sandwiches (such as the ruben shown here) aren’t technically considered kosher, which might deter some patrons, that doesn’t mean they’re any less delicious.

When Jewish immigrants began arriving to New York City from Eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century, they introduced the Jewish deli.  With knishes, matzoh ball soup and sandwiches piled high with pastrami, they created some of New York City’s most recognizable institutions, many of which have stood the test of time and have been continuously serving patrons as far back as anybody can remember.  While names like the Carnegie Deli or Katz’s are what usually come to mind when thinking about Jewish delis in New York, there are plenty of lesser-known, but no less delicious, delis that cater to hungry patrons.  One of these is a small counter deli in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, David’s Brisket House.

Good brisket is hard to find, as it’s a cut of beef that tends to get a bit dry and tough.  Luckily, however, David’s earns the moniker of “brisket house”, serving up some of the most tender cuts of the cow in Brooklyn.  The brisket is also a principle ingredient in the deli’s signature “Brooklyn Cheesesteak”, made with heavily seasoned bites of brisket with peppers, onions and cheese on a sub sandwich.  In addition, their full-flavored, tender and rich pastrami is some of the best in the outer boroughs.  Whenever you order something, however, don’t forget to get a side of gravy with your sandwich to dip in; this feature, unique to other Jewish delis, gives the sandwich something on par with the LA classic “French dip”.

In addition to being a true hole-in-the-wall with delicious food, David’s holds the unique honor of being a Jewish deli run by Muslims.  It was originally opened by Jewish immigrants from Yemen and Russia, but was passed down to a Yemenite Muslim partner in the 1980s.  The new owner, nicknamed “David” after his newfound brisket house, turned it into his family business, and made it into something truly New York: a Jewish deli, run by Muslims with Brooklyn accents in central Brooklyn.  Unlike many Jewish delis, which close on Saturday for the Sabbath, David’s closes early Friday afternoon for Muslim prayer services.

Below is a video about David’s Brisket House, from the web series “1 Minute Meal”:

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Can I Get Workers’ Compensation After Retirement Age?

The newest legal news Workers’ compensation is meant to compensate you for your lost ability to work. However, once you’re past retirement age, that lost ability to work shouldn’t matter anymore because you’ve retired. What if you’re past retirement age but are still working? Will you lose your workers’ compensation benefit after retirement…… FindLaw News – Top Stories http://ift.tt/1du0nhc

Ex-South Carolina Officer Indicted in Walter Scott Homicide

The newest legal news A grand jury has indicted former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager for the murder of Walter Scott. Slager shot Scott in the back as he ran from the officer, while a bystander recorded the incident. While the indictment is just one small step on the path to trial,…… FindLaw News – Top Stories http://ift.tt/1BWHE3O