AndresClari ...Life is 2.0

Today I read that Opera just released the alpha version 10.5 of their browser with some great improvements, in javascript performance as well as in graphic performance. And further more those improvements result in a browser that will be beating up Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari and the slow IE.

Their new Carakan javascript engine gets 7x boost in comparison with Opera 10.10, and gets it ready to fight against the big fishes. The browser also features a new version of the Presto rendering engine, 2.5 which brings us more CSS3, great standard compatibility and yet more HTML5 support, which is a nice step torwards the future.

Is great more than now that another browser gets in the battle, so we all can get the benefits, which for my experience trying this new version, give you a really amazing and blazing fast experience of the web.

All of this being said, this new alpha version is not yet ready for use, as it’s buggy and feature incomplete. But it’s a good start, let’s hope the development come quickly so that we all can benefit from this new future release.

If you want to read more about this alpha, do so in the official blog after the jump.

Looks like on the 9th of December we had a very special sky in Norway, it was a spiral dust pattern all over the sky.

Unfortunately for those who thought it was a space portal or Thor striking with his fury, this has proven to be very explainable scientifically. As the video below shows, this was most probably caused by a rocket loosing fuel while spinning on itself. Still this created a nice and psychedelic image in our sky; amazing the things a rocket accident can cause, and this one was nice.

Today I read this article that explains why we fall ill after stress periods in general, and how we can help our immune system to don’t let the guard down when we go on vacations or take a break.

Basically, when we are in stressful situations our body segregates a special hormone that stimulates your immune system so you don’t contract a cold while you study for your final exams or you are finishing those important reports. However this reaction is only produced during this moments, and after them our body thinks that the danger is over and our defenses can take a break.

“This effect has been associated with conditions such as upper respiratory infections, the flu, migraine headaches, dermatitis, arthritis pain, and depression,” says Schoen, a psychologist and assistant clinical professor of medicine at UCLA.

While this let down effect can affect any of us at any time, those who have very regular intense-stress times followed by let down periods can experience this effect more often when they ease up on weekends or go on vacation, or when they retire.

Defusing the let down effect

Some techniques that can help to ease up the let down effect are these:

• Practice relaxation techniques, or meditation such as deep breathing that can give your mind and body some liberation from the day anxiety.
• Activating the immune system a little so you can prevent it from slowing down, by exercising in short burst -even five minutes in length- which can trigger a positive response. You can try simple things such as using the stairs on your building, or going for a walk after a stressful day at work.
• Try some mental problem solving, like crossword puzzles, under time constrains. ”Several studies show that doing math computations at a rapid pace actually increases immune-system activity,” says Schoen.

After reading this article, I will take more seriously how the stress in my day-life will affect my health, and more importantly we get reminded how many positive effects normal exercise has in our life.

If you are interested in the original article, you can find it at MedicineNet.com