13 August 2012
12 August 2012
Ted Talks | Oliver Sacks On Charles Bonnet Syndrome
Neurologist and author Oliver Sacks brings our attention to Charles Bonnet syndrome -- when visually impaired people experience lucid hallucinations. He describes the experiences of his patients in heartwarming detail and walks us through the biology of this under-reported phenomenon.Near the end of his life, my dad was often entertained by his CBS hallucinations. His favorites were appearances by my late mother, who sat nearby on the sofa and seemed to watch TV with him. He also occasionally saw a pack of dogs run through the living room.
Link
Technology For The Adventurous Cook
 |
| PolyScience Smoking Gun Sprinkle hardwood sawdust into a pipe on the top of this device, light it up, and poof!-- instant smoke you can infuse into your roast, pot of vegetables or vacuum bag for smokehouse flavor without the hazy kitchen. |
 |
| Acti-Fry Using a rotating heat-pulse system, this fryer can fry up a couple pounds of potatoes on a single tablespoon of oil, 3 percent of what ordinary fryers require. Toss in strips of meats or vegetables for more (relatively) healthy fried snacks |
 |
| Gastrovac Think of the Gastrovac as a crock pot, vacuum pump and heating plate in one. Suspend your food -- pear slices, for example -- in a basket above a flavorful liquid, such as wine broth. Seal the machine, and hit a button to turn the cooking chamber into a vacuum. The low-pressure environment pulls all the air out of the food, compressing it like a squished sponge. Near the end of their cooking, drop the pears into the broth and restore the pressure. The liquid rushes into the cells, infusing the fruit with an intense wine flavor. And no oxygen means no oxidation -- so instead of turning brown, fruit comes out as brightly colored as it was when first sliced. |
Check out more cutting edge gadgetry at PopSci.
09 August 2012
08 August 2012
8 August 1974 | Nixon Resigns
YouTube | Scripps Archive
In an evening televised address, President Richard M. Nixon announces his intention to become the first president in American history to resign. With impeachment proceedings underway against him for his involvement in the Watergate affair, Nixon was finally bowing to pressure from the public and Congress to leave the White House. "By taking this action," he said in a solemn address from the Oval Office, "I hope that I will have hastened the start of the process of healing which is so desperately needed in America."
Just before noon the next day, Nixon officially ended his term as the 37th president of the United States. Before departing with his family in a helicopter from the White House lawn, he smiled farewell and enigmatically raised his arms in a victory or peace salute. The helicopter door was then closed, and the Nixon family began their journey home to San Clemente, California. Minutes later, Vice President Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States in the East Room of the White House. After taking the oath of office, President Ford spoke to the nation in a television address, declaring, "My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over." He later pardoned Nixon for any crimes he may have committed while in office, explaining that he wanted to end the national divisions created by the Watergate scandal.Read more here.
Neil deGrasse Tyson Educates Richard Dawkins
YouTube
Two of the most interesting individuals on the planet, Richard Dawkins and Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Via Brooklyn Mutt
07 August 2012
Toodle Pip! | Your Life Is In Danger
Click image to enlarge
An assassination threat involving a horse, lard, and a sex toy is the latest email scam in Ireland. The spammer writes: "As I sit here sipping a martini it is my regretful duty to inform you that you have been selected for assassination."Via Arbroath
06 August 2012
Ask A Mortician | Exploding Caskets
Order of the Good Death | Ask A Mortician
Caitlin Doughty works as a licensed funeral director in California. She answers ALL your questions about death and mortuary science in this entertaining series of videos.
The Order of the Good Death was founded in 2011 to foster the realistic discussion of death in popular culture.
Via Jezebel
05 August 2012
Orphaned Kangaroo Comforted By Orphaned Wombat
Anzac, an orphaned baby kangaroo, was placed with Peggy, a wombat, and the two now sleep together in the same pouch. Lisa Milligan, from the Wild About Wildlife Kilmore Rescue Center [Australia], said the unlikely friends were comforted by each other's movement and heartbeat.
I just love the pics.
Link via Arbroath
04 August 2012
03 August 2012
22 July 2012
11 July 2012
27 June 2012
Chart Porn | Should You Work For Free?
Click image to enlarge
Detail
From Jessica Hische:
Who's ready to stop working for free? Hopefully you are! If you have any doubts, consult this handy chart. Start in the middle and work your way to your answer!Thanks, Claire
25 June 2012
Loch Ness Monster = Dinosaur = Darwinism Is Flawed
From The Herald [Scotland]:
School children in Louisiana are to be taught that the Loch Ness monster is real in a bid by religious educators to disprove Darwin’s theory of evolution. These private schools follow a fundamentalist curriculum including the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) programme to teach controversial religious beliefs aimed at disproving evolution and proving creationism. One tenet has it that if it can be proved that dinosaurs walked the earth at the same time as man then Darwinism is fatally flawed. The textbooks in the series are alleged to teach young earth creationism; are hostile towards other religions and other sectors of Christianity, including Roman Catholicism; and present a biased version of history that is often factually incorrect. One ACE textbook – Biology 1099, Accelerated Christian Education Inc – reads: “Are dinosaurs alive today? Scientists are becoming more convinced of their existence. Have you heard of the ‘Loch Ness Monster’ in Scotland? ‘Nessie’ for short has been recorded on sonar from a small submarine, described by eyewitnesses, and photographed by others. Nessie appears to be a plesiosaur.” Another claim taught is that a Japanese whaling boat once caught a dinosaur. It’s unclear if the movie Godzilla was the inspiration for this.Via Dangerous Minds
21 June 2012
Jason de Caires Taylor | Underwater Sculpture
Silent Evolution
Unstill Life at installation
Unstill Life after submersion
Underwater Gardener
In 2006, Jason de Caires Taylor founded and created the world's first underwater sculpture park. Situated off the coast of Grenada in the West Indies it is now listed as one of the Top 25 Wonders of the World by National Geographic. His latest creation is MUSA (Museo Subaquatico de Arte), a monumental museum with a collection of over 450 public sculptural works, submerged off the coast of Cancun, Mexico; described by Forbes as one of the world's most unique travel destinations. Both these ambitious, permanent public works have a practical, functional aspect, facilitating positive interactions between people and fragile underwater habitats while at the same relieving pressure on natural resources.
Vicissitudes
Vicissitudes detail
20 June 2012
19 June 2012
Slugs | Survival Of The Fittest
Slugs are the nastiest, most disgusting, vile, icky, awful, useless, horrifying, and heebie-jeebie-inducing creatures ever. The idea that they can ooze into someone's house and ooze all the way to his bedroom door is shudderingly goosebumpy and full-body-spasmy. This creative solution is pleasing but it NEEDS MORE SALT if slug jerky is the goal.
18 June 2012
Salon | "Frat-Boy" Conservatism
Daily Caller reporter Neal Munro interrupts President Obama
as Obama speaks
about immigration at the White House
on Friday 15 June.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)
Joan Walsh writes:
... I’m not one to revere the imperial presidency, but it’s unbelievable how wingnuts treat [President Obama] with such unprecedented and bullying disrespect: from Rep. Joe Wilson screaming “You lie” during Obama’s 2009 speech to a joint session of Congress, to Speaker John Boehner denying him his choice of dates for another congressional address (for the first time in history) last fall, to Donald Trump’s persistent, humiliating demands for the president to show him his papers (with no rebuke from ally Mitt Romney). And for right-wingers who insist Democrats are too quick to cry racism: Really, what else explains this constant, in-your-face (literally) contempt for a president?
... Conservatism has always been associated with deference to authority, but lately it’s only for authority they respect. The Romney campaign has been glorying in this new form of frat-boy conservatism, first sending campaign supporters to heckle Obama adviser David Axelrod during a press conference, and yesterday sending its bus to circle and disrupt an Obama event, honking its horn. It reminds me of the famous “Brooks Brothers riots” in Miami during December 2000, when supporters of George W. Bush threatened to physically prevent county officials from recounting votes in that heavily Democratic stronghold. Of course, it also harks back to Romney himself in prep school, tackling a gay classmate and cutting off his long blond hair while he cried and asked for help.Read the full article here.
Monkey Monday | Gorillas Use Infant-Directed Communication
A baby lowland gorilla rides on his mother's back at the primate sanctuary run by the
Cameroon Wildlife Aid Fund in Mefou National Park, just outside the capital Yaounde.
REUTERS
... older gorillas have been found to use a modified system of gestures when communicating with infants. Much like "motherese", the baby talk human parents use when talking to their children, the gorillas' special gestures may help the infants to develop their own communication skills. Eva Maria Luëf and Katja Liebal of the Free University of Berlin in Germany monitored 24 captive lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) for four months, focusing on the gestures they used to start and stop play. Typically, gorillas might encourage play by slapping others while making a "play face", for instance, or somersaulting, and end bouts by placing a hand on the other gorilla's head. With infants, every older gorilla used more touch-based gestures and repeated their gestures more. No other apes have been seen modifying their signals for infants, although rhesus macaques do change one call when directing it at infants. But Luëf suspects that all great apes can do it. The adults could be encouraging the infants to develop their gesturing, says Richard Byrne of the University of St Andrews, UK. Gorillas have to learn how best to use their repertoire of gestures. That takes practice, and possibly help from older gorillas. "I think it's very likely that's what's going on," Byrne says.American Journal of Primatology via New Scientist
17 June 2012
16 June 2012
14 June 2012
Women In Media | Miss Representation
YouTube
Directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Miss Representation explores how mainstream media contribute to the under-representation of women in influential positions in America and challenges the media's limiting and often disparaging portrayals of women, [making it] difficult for the average girl to see herself as powerful. In a society where media is the most persuasive force shaping cultural norms. The collective message that our young women and men overwhelmingly receive is that a woman's value and power lie in her youth, beauty, and sexuality -- and not in her capacity as a leader. While women have made strides in leadership over the past few decades, the United States still ranks 90th in the world for women in national legislatures, depression rates have doubled among teenage girls, and cosmetic surgery on minors has more than tripled in the last ten years.
Stories from teenage girls and provocative interviews with politicians, journalists, academics and activists like Condoleeza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Margaret Cho, Rosario Dawson and Gloria Steinem build momentum as Miss Representation accumulates startling facts and statistics that will leave the audience shaken and armed with a new perspective.Take the pledge [I pledge to use my voice to spread the message of Miss Representation and challenge the media’s limiting portrayal of women and girls.] and show your support at the Miss Representation website. The DVD is available at Amazon for about $15.
Thanks, Linda
13 June 2012
Our Brains Are Getting Bigger
New measurements of hundreds of skulls of white Americans born between 1825 and 1985 suggest that their typical noggin height has grown by about a third of an inch (eight millimeters). It may not sound like much, but the growth translates to roughly a tennis ball's worth of new brain room.
"I can't guess the implications of this jump in cranial size, but other research shows a bigger cranium doesn't necessarily mean more intellect," said University of Tennessee biological anthropologist Richard Jantz, who presented the findings with colleagues at an American Association for Physical Anthropology meeting in April.
Beginning with the dawn of the first Homo species, human skulls evolved to be increasingly bigger until about 30,000 years ago, when head size plateaued. And about 5,000 or 6,000 years ago, when agriculture took off in earnest, skulls began shrinking. The cause of the shrinkage is a mystery, but scientists have tentatively fingered more efficient brain wiring and easier access to food and safety—the idea being that people no longer had to be especially smart to survive (aka the Idiocracy theory).
About ten years ago Jantz and colleagues were measuring skeletons and saw signs that the shrinking trend may be reversing. Since then, they've amassed data on 1,500 skulls spanning 160 years. The specimens came from three collections to which only adult skeletons could be donated. And since mostly adult Caucasian Americans regularly donated to the collections, the researchers' conclusions so far are known to apply to that group alone.
Jantz cautioned that American life has changed in too many ways to pinpoint a single cause for the skull growth. "I am absolutely certain, however, that it's due to the unparalleled environment that we now live in," he said. "Americans drive cars, vaccinate their children—and an excess of food is now a bigger problem than undernutrition, among many other things. It's almost as if we're conducting an experiment on ourselves to see how we'll respond to a totally new environment."
University of Texas demographer Corey Sparks said the new conclusions seem to be valid but was equally cautious not to suggest an exact cause. "I grabbed a ruler to physically see the changes they describe, and eight millimeters is not much change at all. An inch? That'd be huge," said Sparks, who helped Jantz with skull-measuring scientific work many years ago but was not involved in the new research. As for the possible causes, he added, "We like to infer things outside of our data to try and explain a story—a pattern—but there is no smoking gun for what is causing these changes."
National Geographic
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)