Read more at Discovery
30 June 2011
Crows Hold Grudges And Never Forget A Face
Read more at Discovery
29 June 2011
NEJM | All Calories Are Not Created Equal | Food Type Matters More
Mmmmmmm ... needs bacon and melted cheese.
In the game of life and long-term weight maintenance, calories count, but the types of foods might matter more, according to a study by Harvard researchers published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Diets that include potatoes, white bread, sugar-sweetened beverages and meats — well, all that defines modern America — were associated with the greatest weight gain over the 20-year study period. Surprisingly, eating French fries led to more weight gain than eating sugary desserts. And eating whole grains was associated with weight loss, diametrically opposite to the significant weight gain associated with refined grains despite equal caloric content. These results prompted the Harvard researchers to claim that the mantra to "eat less, exercise more" might be overly simplistic.
The Harvard study was one of the first to examine factors linked to long-term weight gain. Most other research has focused on dieting after the subjects have gained extra weight. American adults gain at least a pound per year, on average, so the impact on health after a few decades can be significant. The researchers tapped into three large, ongoing studies — the Nurses' Health Study, the Nurses' Health Study II, and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study — following over 120,000 adults who were free of obesity and chronic diseases at the beginning of the study. "Of course, in the end, 'calories in' versus 'calories out' is what causes weight gain," said lead author Dariush Mozaffarian of the Harvard School of Public Health. "The key question is how to achieve that balance, since everyone is trying to do it and nearly everyone is failing."
28 June 2011
Nancy The Sheepherding Chihuahua
She may only weigh 2.5lb, but Nancy the Chihuahua makes quick work of showing five sheep who is boss, despite the animals being more than ten times her size.Link via Jezebel
Rescue dog Nancy's potential for herding flocks was discovered after she was adopted by a sheep dog trainer. Ali Taylor, who trains rescued border collies, said the tiny dog picked up herding straight away. "I started in a very controlled environment but it quickly became evident that Nancy has natural ability and loves herding sheep," she said.
Nancy was hand-reared after being taken to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home at just three weeks old with a skin disease caused by parasitic mites. "People sometimes under-estimate rescue dogs, but they really are fantastic and go on to do amazing things," Ms Taylor, who also works at the dogs home, said. The charity stresses that no-one should try sheep herding without expert supervision.
Poznan | Summer Solstice Celebration
27 June 2011
A 'Must Read' For Therapists | How Violent Sex Helped Ease One Journalist's PTSD
It was my research editor who told me it was completely nuts to willingly get fucked at gunpoint. That's what she called me when I told her the story. We were drunk and in a karaoke bar, so at the time I came up with only a wounded face and a whiny, "I'm not completely nuuuuts!" Upon further consideration, a more explanative response probably would have been something like: Well. You had to be there.
"There" would be Haiti, where I'd just spent two weeks covering the one-year anniversary of the earthquake that shook the country into ugly chaos. There, a local regular at my hotel restaurant who is not accustomed to taking no for an answer had gotten desperate. After proposing for the 87th time that I have intercourse with him, he was grasping for anything that might change my mind, trying eventually, wildly, "We can do this at gunpoint if that sells it for you." And actually, it did, yeah.
There are a lot of guns in Haiti. Guns on security guards in front of banks and gas stations. Guns on kidnappers who make a living snatching rich people, guns on rich people who are afraid of kidnappers. Guns on the gang-raping monsters who prowl the flimsy encampments of the earthquake homeless. Guns in the hands of the 12,000 United Nations peacekeepers, who sometimes draw them too quickly in civilians' faces and always sling them carelessly across their laps in the back of UN trucks, barrels pointed inadvertently at your face while you drive behind them in traffic. On that reporting trip, I'd been fantasizing about precisely what the local guy proposed, my back against a wall or a mattress with a friendly gun to my throat. But the plan was vetoed about as soon as it was hatched, when I asked him if his firearm had a safety and he said no. Like I say: I am not completely nuts.
Unintentionally Funny | Kids
The teacher who submitted this said she believes the child,
for whom English is a second language, meant to say "ride a bike."
More at Pleated Jeans
Robots Of Brixton
Kibwe Tavares on Vimeo
Via Kuriositas
Monkey Monday | Koko Watches "Tea With Mussolini"
YouTube
Koko watches intently a DVD movie on her TV that she has seen several times before. It is called Tea with Mussolini. When it comes to a sad part, where the boy has to say goodbye to all of his relatives and waves goodbye on the train, Koko turns away from the TV. She then proceeds to sign: "Frown, sad, cry, bad, trouble, mother and Koko-love." Her eyes also look very watery. (Gorillas cry too.)
Lesson: There is mounting scientific evidence that great apes can feel empathy for others. This example points to the possibility that gorillas, in particular, may also be able to empathize with fictional human characters portrayed by actors—or at least be moved by them.
26 June 2011
She's Not There | The Zombies | Nick And Neko
YouTube
She's Not There was the debut single by the British pop band The Zombies. It reached number twelve in the UK Singles Chart in August 1964, and became a top-ten hit in the United States. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it at #297 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The second version was recorded by Nick Cave and Neko Case for the fourth season debut of True Blood.
YouTube | Mashup by Johnathon Sprigg | Dangerous Minds
This song means high school and college and misspent youth. I love this song.
NG | Traveler Photo Contest 2011
Deep Beneath The City | Robbie Stone
Santorini | Shun-Yang So
Reflection Within A Reflection | AngYuan Hann
The 2011 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest submission period runs from April 5 to July 11. More than 3,700 photographers entered nearly 11,000 images in last year's competition. The pictures captured an assortment of the places, wildlife, and people that make traveling memorable, evoking a sense of delight or discovery—or both. For the 23rd year, we are inviting readers to share their photos of the world around them.
25 June 2011
SimplyNoise
SimplyNoise is a free, online white-, pink-, and brown-noise generator that you can use to block disractions and enhance sleep. Noise intensity and speed are adjustable.
The Presurfer
Empire State Pride
Rainbow colors decorate the Empire State Building for NYC Pride Week, June 24th - 26th: red, orange and yellow on the north and south sides; purple, blue and green on the east and west sides.
On Friday 24 June, the New York state senate passed the Marriage Equality Act, becoming the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage. The other five states are Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
NewYorkology | TDW
24 June 2011
23 June 2011
21 June 2011
18 June 2011
17 June 2011
16 June 2011
PBS | Independent Lens | Two Spirits
Watch the full episode.
Fred Martinez was nádleehí, a male-bodied person with a feminine nature, a special gift according to his ancient Navajo culture. He was one of the youngest hate-crime victims in modern history when he was brutally murdered at 16. Two Spirits explores the life and death of this boy who was also a girl, and the essentially spiritual nature of gender.Link
Two Spirits tells compelling stories about traditions that were once widespread among the indigenous cultures of North America. The film explores the contemporary lives and history of Native two-spirit people — who combine the traits of both men and women with qualities that are also unique to individuals who express multiple genders.
The Navajo believe that to maintain harmony, there must be a balanced interrelationship between the feminine and the masculine within the individual, in families, in the culture, and in the natural world. Two Spirits reveals how these beliefs are expressed in a natural range of gender diversity. For the first time on film, it examines the Navajo concept of nádleehí, “one who constantly transforms.”
In Navajo culture, there are four genders; some indigenous cultures recognize more. Native activists working to renew their cultural heritage adopted the English term “two-spirit” as a useful shorthand to describe the entire spectrum of gender and sexual expression that is better and more completely described in their own languages. The film demonstrates how they are revitalizing two-spirit traditions and once again claiming their rightful place within their tribal communities.
Too Much Nature | Whale Shark | 1000th Post
This is Lanny-yap's 1000th post! Sincere thanks to everyone who supports the blog!
15 June 2011
NPR's Delicious Dish | Schweddy Balls
14 June 2011
Cooking In Sens | Scalloped Potatoes In Bacon Baskets
Click image to enlarge
Cooking In Sens is written by an Texan named Rosemary who currently divides her time between Sens, France and upstate New York.
The photographs are gorgeous and the food looks incredibly yummy. Just look what she did with bacon! Does she cook like this every day? I would use these bacon cups to hold portions of macaroni and cheese, creamy scrambled eggs topped with melted cheese, savory rice and vegetables with a buttery panko crust, or even caramel- or maple-flavored ice cream.
13 June 2011
Monkey Monday | Wildlife Photography Award Winners
Orangutan and Baby | Tanjung Puting National Park | Borneo
Jami Tarris
Click image to enlarge
The orangutan is the largest Asian primate and also the largest tree-dwelling mammal. They teach their young at an early age to forage through the dense forest for food more than 60 percent of their diet is comprised of fruits, and they consume a variety of leaves, bark, sap, roots, flowers, birds eggs, and insects as available. With more of their tropical habitat being destroyed every day, especially by palm oil development, the species is being squeezed into smaller and smaller areas of remaining natural rain forest. At the current rate of deforestation, the wild orangutans are predicted to be extinct in fewer than 20 years.
Being the only surviving species of great ape endemic to Asia, the Bornean and the Sumatran orangutan are highly endangered. After spending many days in the heat and humidity of the rain forest, I was finally rewarded with the images I had hoped for. This mother and her young sat quietly for many minutes before this photo was made. The juvenile placed his finger on his mother s lower lip in a very gentle way. After a few seconds, the mother wrapped her hand around her son s hand and I caught this tender, intimate moment between parent and young.
Western Lowland Gorilla and Mallard Duck | Bronx Zoo | New York
Tom Warren
Click image to enlarge
While mallards are commonly found throughout North America and across Eurasia, the peaceful, family-bound gorillas are highly endangered and struggle with loss of habitat, poaching, and disease. Scientists are working with the Republic of Congo government to establish a national complex of protected areas. This zone is among the most important for western lowland gorillas of equatorial Africa. The Bronx Zoo helps raise funds for the Wildlife Conservation Society to protect these magnificent primates.See more wonderful, award-winning photographs here.
Upon arriving at the Bronx Zoo's Congo Gorilla Forest exhibit, I noticed there was an excitement among those viewing the animals. We all watched with amazement as a tiny duckling wandered among the huge western lowland gorillas, who eyed the fuzzy visitor with curiosity. The duckling did not seem the least bit intimidated and for good reason, as Africa's gentle giants eat mostly fruits and plants. How fortunate I was to witness a wonderful moment between two unlikely friends.
12 June 2011
Baxter Retching Faces | The BARF Nausea Scale
This pictorial (Baxter Retching Faces) scale for measuring nausea severity has convergent and discriminant validity, and detected change after antiemetic treatment. Its use in the clinical and research setting may assist in nausea management in children. To our knowledge, this is the first scale based in part on patient drawings.Improbable Research | The Presurfer
Additional studies will be required to determine if the stylized emesis anchor will decrease endorsement of the maximum nausea choice by patients with severe nausea but no emesis, based on concrete thinking that 'If I am not actually vomiting, I cannot choose this face'.
Future studies need to be performed to determine if there are age, gender, culture, ethnic, or language variations in the validation of the BARF scale.
11 June 2011
The Arty Bollocks Generator
Charlie and Sheba | The Museum of Bad Art
Do you hate having to write your artist statement? Generate your own here for free, and if you don't like it, generate another one. For use with funding applications, exhibitions, curriculum vitae, websites ...
Sample bollocksy statement:
My work explores the relationship between the body and emotional memories. With influences as diverse as Kierkegaard and John Lennon, new tensions are generated from both explicit and implicit layers. Ever since I was a student I have been fascinated by the traditional understanding of the mind. What starts out as vision soon becomes corroded into a tragedy of power, leaving only a sense of nihilism and the inevitability of a new reality. As spatial forms become transformed through emergent and critical practice, the viewer is left with a glimpse of the inaccuracies of our era.Not arty or bollocksy enough for you? How about:
My work explores the relationship between new class identities and emotional memories. With influences as diverse as Camus and Francis Bacon, new synergies are crafted from both simple and complex layers. Ever since I was a teenager I have been fascinated by the traditional understanding of relationships. What starts out as hope soon becomes corroded into a cacophony of greed, leaving only a sense of chaos and the prospect of a new synthesis. As temporal impressions become transformed through diligent and critical practice, the viewer is left with a glimpse of the edges of our era.Words by David James Ross | Design and development by Joke de Winter
NOTE: Doesn't work in IE - use Google Chrome.
Via Dangerous Minds
10 June 2011
08 June 2011
Jack Horner | Building A Chickenosaurus
Renowned paleontologist Jack Horner has spent his career trying to reconstruct a dinosaur. He's found fossils with extraordinarily well-preserved blood vessels and soft tissues, but never intact DNA. So, in a new approach, he's taking living descendants of the dinosaur (chickens) and genetically engineering them to reactivate ancestral traits — including teeth, tails, and even hands — to make a "Chickenosaurus".Oh jeebus, someone made a chicken with teeth?
Link
Alice's Bucket List
Alice Pyne has cancer. The 15-year-old from Ulverston [U.K.] has been battling the disease for nearly four years, but her recent scan suggests her cancer has spread beyond the point of hope. “Now I know that the cancer is gaining on me,” she writes in her blog profile, “and it doesn’t look like I’m going to win this one.”Click here to find out how to become a bone marrow donor in the United States.
Though she may not be long for this world, there are still many things Alice hopes to accomplish while she’s around. On her mother’s advice, Alice created Alice’s Bucket List — “a blog to document this precious time with my family and friends, doing the things I want to do.”
Among the things Alice would like to do: Swim with sharks; meet Take That; go to Kenya; and make everyone sign up to be a bone marrow donor. “Some are possible,” she says. “Some will remain a dream.”
TDW
06 June 2011
04 June 2011
Wave At The Bus
Day 65 | Captain America
Day 71 | Jester
Day 169 | Wedding Dress
Some day, maybe 20 years from now, Rain Price may actually forgive his father. That would be when he has kids of his own, who may accuse him of embarrassing them. Then he will get out his photo album and show them how his dad used to dress up every morning and wave to the bus taking Rain to high school from their northwest American Fork [Utah] neighborhood.Read more here.
Actually Rain has gotten used to the idea and enjoys laughing with his neighbors and bus friends who check out his dad Dale's new costume every day of the school year. Nearing the 180-day finale of school, Dale has worn something different every day.
He didn't start out with this in mind. "The school bus for the first time ever came down our street this year," he said. "This was his first year on the bus. My wife came running in the room and suggested we go wave at him to embarrass him. Later I overheard him talking to her, 'Mom, don't let Dad go out there again.' What a challenge."
So it began.
"I came out the next day with a Chargers helmet and jersey," he said. "I didn't plan on it lasting." Rochelle Price, Rain's mom and Dale's wife, said it evolved from there.
Wave At The Bus | TDW
03 June 2011
Middle-School Yearbook Lists Five Worst People
Russellville Middle School yearbook page
#4 and #5
Open up the Russellville [Arkansas] Middle School yearbook. You’ll see the students’ pictures, the administration, and a pretty controversial list that’s supposed to be covered with a piece of black tape. “My problem is the tape can be removed easily,” said School Board Member Chris Cloud. Cloud has two kids in the Russellville School District and one brought home the yearbook. “I’m furious as a parent and as a board member and as a tax payer and as a resident of Russellville,” he said. “It’s wrong.”Link via Dangerous Minds
The list is titled “Top 5 worst people of all time.” The top three, in order, are Adolph [sic] Hitler, Osama Bin Laden, and Charles Manson. Numbers four and five are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
Superintendent Randall Williams calls the list “an oversight.” Parents caught it after the yearbooks were printed. The district’s solution was to cover the list with tape. It didn’t work.
Williams says the yearbook editing process is under review. He won't comment on what's happening with the yearbook sponsor, saying he can't talk about disciplanary issues.
02 June 2011
J. Henry Fair | Industrial Scars
Inside a holding tank at an oil sands upgrader facility | Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada | July 2009
Waste pond near brown coal-fired power station | Lausitz, Germany | 2008
Bauxite waste at an aluminum manufacturing plant | Darrow, LA | December 2005
Herbicide manufacturing plant | Luling, LA | 2010
... Environmental activist J. Henry Fair took these colorful aerial shots of Industrial Scars with the hope that we would understand our role in this mess that we've caused and that, ultimately, we'd want to make a difference.My Modern Met
01 June 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)