counterknowledge as "misinformation packaged to look like fact
/////////////////STSTSMN=100 years ago today
NEWS ITEM
FIRE IN BOW BAZAR
Caused By A Mad Woman
Yesterday at 12-45 P.M. a disastrous fire broke out in 243, Bowbazar Street, in a hut belonging to one Umesh Chandra Bhattacharjee (known as Brahmin Thakur), a bikriwala (old furniture dealer). Umesh had come to his shop after taking his meal, and as his wife was a lunatic had locked her up in a room. The woman somehow set fire to the house and managed to escape and hide herself in a neighbour’s house. The flames were seen by some mistries on the roof of an adjoining house, and they gave the alarm. Four tiled huts of Umesh, packed with furniture, wee burnt to ashes in a few minutes. The fire spread to the Indian Stores, but Mr J Choudhury with a large number of men succeeded in preventing the fire from spreading, but a window was completely burnt and a store room had to be hurriedly vacated. A little after 1 P.M. the Fire Brigade arrived, but by that time the adjoining godown (No 243) of Mr D Smith, a stevedore, had been completely gutted. It took a little time before the hoses could be brought to play on the ire, but Superintendent Merriman and Engineer Chase with their men did their best to extinguish the fire. As there were no adjoining huts besides those burned the fire did not spread. Umesh Bhattacharjee had an iron chest containing valuables, currency notes, and documents, which were all burned.
///////////////////////DTR-TUMI AMAR MA AR OTA AMAR BABA
/////////////////////////
Sunday, 29 March 2009
CDS 290309-SPRING FORWARD
counterknowledge as "misinformation packaged to look like fact
/////////////////STSTSMN=100 years ago today
NEWS ITEM
FIRE IN BOW BAZAR
Caused By A Mad Woman
Yesterday at 12-45 P.M. a disastrous fire broke out in 243, Bowbazar Street, in a hut belonging to one Umesh Chandra Bhattacharjee (known as Brahmin Thakur), a bikriwala (old furniture dealer). Umesh had come to his shop after taking his meal, and as his wife was a lunatic had locked her up in a room. The woman somehow set fire to the house and managed to escape and hide herself in a neighbour’s house. The flames were seen by some mistries on the roof of an adjoining house, and they gave the alarm. Four tiled huts of Umesh, packed with furniture, wee burnt to ashes in a few minutes. The fire spread to the Indian Stores, but Mr J Choudhury with a large number of men succeeded in preventing the fire from spreading, but a window was completely burnt and a store room had to be hurriedly vacated. A little after 1 P.M. the Fire Brigade arrived, but by that time the adjoining godown (No 243) of Mr D Smith, a stevedore, had been completely gutted. It took a little time before the hoses could be brought to play on the ire, but Superintendent Merriman and Engineer Chase with their men did their best to extinguish the fire. As there were no adjoining huts besides those burned the fire did not spread. Umesh Bhattacharjee had an iron chest containing valuables, currency notes, and documents, which were all burned.
///////////////////////
/////////////////STSTSMN=100 years ago today
NEWS ITEM
FIRE IN BOW BAZAR
Caused By A Mad Woman
Yesterday at 12-45 P.M. a disastrous fire broke out in 243, Bowbazar Street, in a hut belonging to one Umesh Chandra Bhattacharjee (known as Brahmin Thakur), a bikriwala (old furniture dealer). Umesh had come to his shop after taking his meal, and as his wife was a lunatic had locked her up in a room. The woman somehow set fire to the house and managed to escape and hide herself in a neighbour’s house. The flames were seen by some mistries on the roof of an adjoining house, and they gave the alarm. Four tiled huts of Umesh, packed with furniture, wee burnt to ashes in a few minutes. The fire spread to the Indian Stores, but Mr J Choudhury with a large number of men succeeded in preventing the fire from spreading, but a window was completely burnt and a store room had to be hurriedly vacated. A little after 1 P.M. the Fire Brigade arrived, but by that time the adjoining godown (No 243) of Mr D Smith, a stevedore, had been completely gutted. It took a little time before the hoses could be brought to play on the ire, but Superintendent Merriman and Engineer Chase with their men did their best to extinguish the fire. As there were no adjoining huts besides those burned the fire did not spread. Umesh Bhattacharjee had an iron chest containing valuables, currency notes, and documents, which were all burned.
///////////////////////
Saturday, 28 March 2009
RDING WHY WE GT SICK?
///////////////////////////NOT KLLD BY LION AT 10/30 -GT KLLD BY CNCR AT 80
//////////////////DR WEILL=4 Unhealthy Snacks
Last week we discussed Four Healthy Snacks; today we look at four snacks to avoid, and offer healthier alternatives.
Doughnuts. High in sugar, trans-fats, calories and refined flour, doughnuts are not only bad for your waistline, but bad for your energy levels as well. The high sugar content is likely to end in a midday crash. If you crave a doughnut, try a piece of whole-grain bread with some jam and peanut butter instead.
Soft Drinks. There just isn’t anything nutritious about soda, whether it’s diet or regular. Instead of a soda, try some sparkling water with a bit of fruit juice – you’ll get the carbonation without all the sugar.
French Fries. Actually anything fried - from chicken to potatoes to onions to cheese – should be avoided. Deep-fried foods contain altered fats that are detrimental to the body. If you want finger foods, opt for carrot and celery sticks.
Instant Soup. Very high in sodium, instant soup generally offers little health benefit in proportion to its sodium count. Your total daily intake of sodium should not exceed 2,400 mg and one serving of instant soup contains around 500 mg. (Ramen-style soup is even worse, offering up about one-third of a day’s recommended sodium.) A better option is low-sodium vegetable broth with part whole wheat and buckwheat noodles such as Japanese soba or udon.
//////////////////////////////COLLCTV MSOCHISM OF QKSTN
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////Act as if it were impossible to fail.
~Dorothy Broude~
///////////////////
I am ready to meet my maker, but whether my maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
Winston Churchill, 11/30/1874 - 01/24/1965
British politician and Nobel Prize Laureate
//////////////////////
//////////////////DR WEILL=4 Unhealthy Snacks
Last week we discussed Four Healthy Snacks; today we look at four snacks to avoid, and offer healthier alternatives.
Doughnuts. High in sugar, trans-fats, calories and refined flour, doughnuts are not only bad for your waistline, but bad for your energy levels as well. The high sugar content is likely to end in a midday crash. If you crave a doughnut, try a piece of whole-grain bread with some jam and peanut butter instead.
Soft Drinks. There just isn’t anything nutritious about soda, whether it’s diet or regular. Instead of a soda, try some sparkling water with a bit of fruit juice – you’ll get the carbonation without all the sugar.
French Fries. Actually anything fried - from chicken to potatoes to onions to cheese – should be avoided. Deep-fried foods contain altered fats that are detrimental to the body. If you want finger foods, opt for carrot and celery sticks.
Instant Soup. Very high in sodium, instant soup generally offers little health benefit in proportion to its sodium count. Your total daily intake of sodium should not exceed 2,400 mg and one serving of instant soup contains around 500 mg. (Ramen-style soup is even worse, offering up about one-third of a day’s recommended sodium.) A better option is low-sodium vegetable broth with part whole wheat and buckwheat noodles such as Japanese soba or udon.
//////////////////////////////COLLCTV MSOCHISM OF QKSTN
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////Act as if it were impossible to fail.
~Dorothy Broude~
///////////////////
I am ready to meet my maker, but whether my maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
Winston Churchill, 11/30/1874 - 01/24/1965
British politician and Nobel Prize Laureate
//////////////////////
Thursday, 26 March 2009
CDS 260309-PALU READINESS-MKK
//////////////WRRIES-DTR BRSNG-AD DRVNG-ME CGHNG
////////////The Timeline of the Future...
Here is a timeline of what may be about to happen in the future. Many of the predictions have been taken from 'official' predictions by economists, and various experts in many other fields.
For those of you that enjoy science fiction as I do, I have also inserted the years when certain well-known science fiction stories take place (see blue text). It is a sobering reminder that, at least for the near future, that we are pretty bad at imagining what the future will be like.
When I was growing up, the 21st Century was the future when great things would be happening, or at least that's what science fiction writers and futurists promised. From the timeline below, it really looks like the 22nd Century will be very exciting. Too bad those of you reading this page will not be there to see it happen !
It looks like only Stephen Baxter (Ring) and Arthur C. Clarke (The City and the Stars) have any ideas what might be in store for us beyond a million years from now. Is this the uncharted territory for the next generation of science fiction authors?
Note: Future predictions by various science fiction stories are shown in blue italics Mys = Million years ago; Kya = Thousand years ago. Scientific notation for far future expressed as 10^3 for 1000, 10^4 for 10000 and 10^10^26 for 'ten raised to the 10^26th power).
Written by NASA Astronomer Dr. Sten Odenwald
http://www.astronomycafe.net
Astronomy Cafe
2001. NEAR spacecraft is the first manmade object to land on an asteroid.
2001. The events from 2001: A Space Odyssey begin.
2003. End of the World predicted by aliens called Zetas
2003. Cassini spacecraft arrives at Saturn
2003, Mars at opposition. 34.6 million miles. Closest to earth in last 3000 years
2004. Alderson Drive is perfected and allows interstellar travel. (Jerry Pournelle)
2004, Transit of Venus (6/8)
2004. Superconducting Supercollider creates a wormhole bridge (John Cramer.)
2004. End of the World predicted by Arnie Stanton. Second Coming
2005. Eon. First expedition to hollowed-out asteroid uncovers The Way. (Greg Bear)
2006. End of the World .
2007. End of the World . Rapture occurs
2009. Flashforward. At the CERN something goes horribly awry.
2010 World's oil supply will reach its maximum production.
2010. Half of all automobiles and trucks will be electric
2012. End of the World . Bible Code shows earth hit by devastating comet.
2012 Great Cycle of the Maya is 5,125 years in length comes to an end.
2012. End of the World. The earth enters the Photon Belt from the Pleiades.
2014. End of the World . Pope Leo XIX prediction ca 1514.
2014. Planned launch of the Terrestrial Planet Finder by NASA.
2015. Fossil industry will start to feel the cumulative heat of dwindling oil supply,
2015. Greenhouse gas emissions in developing world exceed industrialized world.
2016. End of the World . Biological plague released that kills all of humanity.
2016. Possible date for the flyby of the New Horizons mission with Pluto.
2017. End of the World . according to Sword of God Brotherhood.
2018. End of the World . Comet or Asteroid collides with earth.
2019. Cities in Flight. Gravitron polarity generator invented (James Blish)
2020. About one-fourth of children will live in poverty,
2020. Skill shortage of nine million college educated workers
2020 Estimated population could be at 8 billion people.
2020. Global natural gas production is expected to "peak" by now.
2020 Massive and uncontrolled deforestation in Africa
2020. Government will owe the Social Security Trust Fund $3 trillion,
2020. Minority students will represent 46% of all students in the United States.
2020 Mt. Kilimanjaro - complete loss of snow
2020. Podkayne of Mars. Intra-planet travel is commonplace. (Robert Heinlein)
2022. Soylent Green events begin.
2024. End of the World . Asteroid hits earth.
2025. Childhood's End. 50 years after the Overlords arrived in 1975, (Arthur C. Clarke)
2025. Milky Way invisible eastern half of the United States
2025 Two out of every three people on Earth will live in water-stressed conditions.
2028. End of the World . Asteroid 1997 XF11 within 600,000 miles. Could collide.
2030. End of the World . Predicted by Sun Microsystems Chief Scientist.
2030 The projected insolvancy date for the Medicare Trust Fund
2030. One in four American women will be over the age of 65.
2030. Peak aging of baby boom generation. Total population 50.8 million
2030. The world's automobile population will surpass one billion,
2030. Global warming could flood New York subways, airports coastal areas
2030. World population 9.6 billion. 96% of the addition in developing nations,
2030. The Star Dwellers. Haertel faster than light drive invented (James Blish)
2036. The Light of Other Days. 'WormCam' invented (Arthur C. Clarke)
2038. End of the World. Massive starvation and polar icecaps melt. 2038.
2040. No distinction between a commercial airliner a commercial launch vehicle:
2040. Population of California will essentially double to 60 million people.
2042. Timemaster. First expedition to Alpha Centauri. Warpgate. (Robert Forward)
2047. End of the World . Predicted by the Church of BLAIR.
2049. Robots will be doing many household chores such as cooking, lawn-mowing,
2050. The impact of global warming is expected to be obvious by now.
2050. People of color will comprise nearly 50 percent of the U.S. population.
2050. U.S. Glacier National Park will contain no glaciers.
2050. Jet contrails to be significant climate factor by 2050
2050. Ozone layer will begin to repair itself
2050. The world population 9-11 billion
2050. World energy consumption will double or triple by 2050
2050. Photovoltaic solar energy of 18% in the entire electricity
2050, Fuel-cell electric power will predominate.
2050. Petroleum reserves are finally exhausted
2050. Human population estimated at 10-12 billion.
2050. Death of the Oil Economy.
2050. Earth-dwellers will probably be able to travel to the moon
2050. Globe will warm up by 1.5 - 4.5 degrees Celsius if CO2 at 600 ppm
2053. Third World War. Zefram Cochrane invents space warp drive (Star Trek)
2058. Lost in Space movie. Jupiter 2 is launched from Earth.
2060. Population of the United States is now at 560 million Americans
2061. Babylon 5. First permanent lunar colony established.
2061. Halley's Comet returns. This is the 31st time
2065. Procyon's Promise. A Maker ship enters solar system. (Michael McCollum)
2076. End of the World . Bede the Venerable, an 8th Century christian theologian.
2083. Alien movie begin its history.
2084, Transit of Earth as seen from Mars (November 10th)
2088 Computer will be twice as smart and twice as insightful as any human being
2090. Great Lakes water levels will likely be one to three feet lower;
2095. Chinese economy has grown by a factor of more than 50,
2100. Two-thirds of the world's 6,700 languages will have died.
2100. Average temperature increases worldwide of more than 3 degrees Celsius
2100. Population in the year 2100 may be in the range 10 to II billion.
2100 Sea level in 2100, would be about 0.4 metres.
2100. Atmospheric CO2 will increase to 700 ppm by Temps by 3.5 °F (1.9 °C)
2100. The Ring of Charon. Earth is accidentally destroyed (Roger MacBride Allen)
2101. Babylon 5. First martian base established.
2102. Polaris reaches its closest position with respect to the North Celestial Pole.
2119. Orphans of the Sky. First Proxima Centauri Expedition (Robert Heinlein)
2150. Dr Who and his traveling companions use his time machine and visit Earth
2115. Childhood's End. All adult humans are now extinct, (Arthur C. Clarke)
2125. Childhood's End. The Earth is destroyed (Arthur C.Clarke)
2130. Rama Revealed. Alien artifact enters the solar system (Arthur C. Clark)
2197. The Engines of God. The Iapetus Expedition. (Jack McDevitt)
2199. The Matrix. the world is now being run by an artificial intelligence..
2200. Galaxies Like Grains of Sand. The Procyon Colony is settled. (Brian Aldis)
2218. Star Trek. First contact with Klingon Empire
2245. Babylon 5. The Earth-Minbari War begins with the death of Dukat.
2261. Babylon 5. The Shadow-Vorlon war at Coridian.
2264. Star Trek. Captain Kirk begins the historic 'Five year Mission'
2267. Babylon 5. Drakh release plague on Earth. Humanity annihilated except Rangers.
2300. The End of Eternity. Humans discover the Temporal Field. (Isaac Asimov)
2341. The Man-Kazin War begins. (Larry Niven)
2367. Star Trek Next Generation. The Borg attack the Federation.
2375. Cities in Flight. Earth cities wander the galaxy (James Blish)
2400. Eon. Humans hollow out the asteroid Ceres and install The Way, (Greg Baer)
2439. The Sundered Worlds. End of the universe. (Michael Moorcock)
2487. Buck Rogers TV series
2512. Antares Dawn (Michael McCollum)
2525. Zager and Evans: In the year 2525,
2600. The End of Eternity. Time travel created (Isaac Asimov)
3001. Ring. Space travel with GUT-drive and wormhole technology. (Stephen Baxter)
3100. Earth's next little ice age could occur
3111. Cities in Flight. New York is launched into space.(James Blish)
3175. A Canticle for Leibowitz. Earth destroyed by nuclear war (Walter Miller)
3262. Babylon 5. On a decimated Earth, monks collect artifacts to reconstruct past
3500. The Songs of Distant Earth. The quantum drive is invented. (Arthur C. Clarke)
3620. Songs of Distant Earth. Earth destroyed as the Sun goes nova. (Arthur C.Clarke)
3850. The Corridors of Time. Time travel is invented. (Poul Anderson)
4000. The Chaos Weapon. Trans-continuum drives. (Colin Kapp)
4000 Earth's magnetic field would vanish, perhaps reversing polarity
4004. Cities in Flight. Rebirth of the universe. (James Blish)
4874. Ring. Conquest of human planets by Squeem. (Stephen Baxter)
5088. Ring. Conquest of human planets by Qax (Stephen Baxter)
5500. Ring. Third human expansion begins into galaxy. (Stephen Baxter)
10,000. Ring. Humans become dominant species in galaxy (Stephen Baxter)
11,500. Because of precession, Earth will then be closer to the sun in July
12,000. The Wizard of Linn. (A.E. van Vogt)
16,000. Vega is now the North Pole Star.
20,000. Global climate would be naturally heading towards another ice age.
23,000. A full-scale glaciation, much like the last one, will culminate
23,125,. The star Thuban is now the North Pole Star.
26,000. Hari Sheldon establishes the Foundation. (Isaac Asimov)
26,390. Dune. House Atreides moves to Arakis (Frank Herbert)
27,827. Polaris returns to its closest offset from North Celestial Pole
30,000 Pioneer 10 passes close to nearby star Ross 248, 10 light years distant
50,000 Solar system enters a piece of 'Local Fluff'
80,000 Peak of the next ice age,
82,000. Galaxies Like Grains of Sand. Space travel resumes.(Brian Aldis)
100,000. Ring. Human assaults on Xeelee concentrations begins. (Stephen Baxter)
202,000. Return to the Stars. The Empire battles the Dark Worlds. (Edmond Hamilton)
657,208. The Time Ships. The Morlock civilization. (Stephen Baxter)
802,701 In the Time Machine chronology the Morlocks and Eloi saga unfolds.
1 million. Gleise 710 reaches closest point to Sun at 1 light years. Comet storms?
1 million . Babylon 5. Sun goes nova. Rangers become Vorlon-like beings.
1 million. Ring. Xeelee final defeat of humans (Stephen Baxter)
1 million. City and the Stars. Humans colonized the galaxy. (Arthur C. Clarke)
3 million. City and the Stars. Invaders enter Galaxy. Defeat humans. (Arthur C. Clarke)
3 million. The End of Eternity. Humans will have evolved. (Isaac Asimov)
3 million . The Betelgeuse Supernova by now.
4 million. Ring. Destruction of Ring by photino birds. (Stephen Baxter)
5 million. Ring. Last humans return to solar system in GUT ship (Stephen Baxter)
5 million. Sun reached the edge of the Local Bubble
7 million. The End of Eternity. The mysterious Hidden Centuries. (Isaac Asimov).
10 million. Ring. Extinction of baryonic life. (Stephen Baxter)
15 million. The End of Eternity. Humanity has completely died out. (Isaac Asimov)
20 million. Limit to numerical integration of the dynamics of the solar system
20 million. 35 supernovae in the Sco-Cen OB association
40 million. Galaxies Like Grains of Sand. The end of the Dark Millennia. (Brian Aldis)
66 million Sirius leaves the main sequence and starts life as a red giant
100 million City and the Stars. Humanity confined to a few cities: Diaspar (Arthur C. Clarke)
100 million Solar luminosity 1% higher. global temperature will be 10 degrees C higher.
100 million. Saturn's rings disappear.
200 million . Global temperature will be 20 degrees C higher.
225 million. Sirius is a mature red giant with a red color and a magnitude of -5.0.
250 million. World will once again be like ancient Pangea.
300 million. The binary pulsar PSR1913+16 collapses in a spectacular supernova.
300 million. Mean global temperature will be 30 degrees C higher.
342 million. Sirius enters a planetary nebula phase.
400 million. Mean global temperature will be 40 degrees C higher.
500 million. Atmosphere short of carbon dioxide that all plant will die,
500 million. Global temperature will be 50 degrees C higher.
600 million. The sun will be 5% brighter than it is today.
600 million. Earth temperature will have risen to about 350 K or 80C.
750 million. Sagittarius dwarf galaxy eaten by Milky Way.
1 billion. The City and the Stars. Human interstellar civilization (Arthur C. Clarke)
1 billion. Galaxies Like Grains of Sand. Human extinction across galaxy. (Brian Aldis)
1 billion . Earth may lose its oceans and revert to its former lifeless
1.1 billion : Sun will be 10% brighter than today. Moist Greenhouse Effect.
1.1 billion. Earth would start to lose its water via a 'moist greenhouse'
1.3 billion. Surface temperature 100 C. The surface pressure of the atmosphere is 2 bars,
1.5 billion. The City and the Stars . Humans create incorporeal beings(Arthur C. Clarke)
2 billion. Global temperature about 400 K or 130 C.
2 billion Eccentricity of the orbit of Mars exceeds 0.2.
2 billion. The City and the Stars. Alvin leaves Diaspar (Arthur C. Clarke)
2 billion. Moon no longer helpful in stabilizing our axis. Chaotic behavior eminent
2.3 billion. The solar system makes its Tenth orbit of the galactic center
3 billion. Sun reaches its hottest surface temperature of 5843 on Main Sequence
3 billion. Solar luminosity increases 33%, Global temperature 450 K or 180 C.
3 billion. Andromeda Galaxy collides with Milky Way.
3.5 billion Runaway Greenhouse Effect The oceans will evaporate into space,
3.5 billion. Mercury suffers close encounter with Venus and ejected from solar system.
3.5 billion. Earth now a twin to Venus but with water-vapor rich 100-bar atmosphere.
4.8 billion. Earth's temperature will have risen to about 1600 K or 1330 C.
5.0 billion. Sun starts to become a red giant.
7.5 billion. City at World's End. Middletown propelled into future (Edmond Hamilton)
7.55 billion. Venus at 1 AU earth 1.38 AU. Mercury engulfed, but Venus just escapes
7.68 billion. Sun engulfs Venus and Earth. Mars spared at a distance of 2.25 AU.
11 billion. Youngest globular clusters have now evaporated away.
17 billion. The City and the Stars. Mad Mind battles Vanamonde(Arthur C. Clarke)
50 billion. Earthlings will only see galaxies that are now our closest neighbors.
100 billion. Universe will be a dark and lonely place,"
100 billion. The universe is likely to remain hospitable to life
1000 billion Stars die. No more fusion-powered stars, Galaxies filled with corpses.
1500 trillion. Ring. Stars evaporate from galaxies.(Stephen Baxter)
10^17 Passing stars rip planets from stellar corpses.
10^18 Galaxies dissolve.
10^20 Orbits of planets decay via gravitational radiation
10^30 The Black Hole Age
10^31 Universe filled with supermassive black holes. Protons decay
10^32 Dead stars evaporate via proton decay
10^34 All carbon-based lifeforms become extinct (due to lack of atoms)
10^35 . Proton and neutron will decay if current GUT theories correct.
10^65 Stellar-mass black holes evaporate!
10^65 Ordinary matter liquifies due to quantum tunneling
10^66 Solar mass black holes evaporate via Hawking process
10^97 Galaxy-sized black holes will also evaporate.
10^100 Supermassive black holes evaporate.
10^110 . The Dark Age no known process which will ever change things.
10^122 Protons decay via Hawking process
10^1500 Ordinary matter surviving GUTs or Hawking process, decays into iron
10^10^26 All iron nuclei collapse into black holes
__________________________________________________________________
////////////////////////=ASTRNMY CAFE
//////////////////MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY
////////////The Timeline of the Future...
Here is a timeline of what may be about to happen in the future. Many of the predictions have been taken from 'official' predictions by economists, and various experts in many other fields.
For those of you that enjoy science fiction as I do, I have also inserted the years when certain well-known science fiction stories take place (see blue text). It is a sobering reminder that, at least for the near future, that we are pretty bad at imagining what the future will be like.
When I was growing up, the 21st Century was the future when great things would be happening, or at least that's what science fiction writers and futurists promised. From the timeline below, it really looks like the 22nd Century will be very exciting. Too bad those of you reading this page will not be there to see it happen !
It looks like only Stephen Baxter (Ring) and Arthur C. Clarke (The City and the Stars) have any ideas what might be in store for us beyond a million years from now. Is this the uncharted territory for the next generation of science fiction authors?
Note: Future predictions by various science fiction stories are shown in blue italics Mys = Million years ago; Kya = Thousand years ago. Scientific notation for far future expressed as 10^3 for 1000, 10^4 for 10000 and 10^10^26 for 'ten raised to the 10^26th power).
Written by NASA Astronomer Dr. Sten Odenwald
http://www.astronomycafe.net
Astronomy Cafe
2001. NEAR spacecraft is the first manmade object to land on an asteroid.
2001. The events from 2001: A Space Odyssey begin.
2003. End of the World predicted by aliens called Zetas
2003. Cassini spacecraft arrives at Saturn
2003, Mars at opposition. 34.6 million miles. Closest to earth in last 3000 years
2004. Alderson Drive is perfected and allows interstellar travel. (Jerry Pournelle)
2004, Transit of Venus (6/8)
2004. Superconducting Supercollider creates a wormhole bridge (John Cramer.)
2004. End of the World predicted by Arnie Stanton. Second Coming
2005. Eon. First expedition to hollowed-out asteroid uncovers The Way. (Greg Bear)
2006. End of the World .
2007. End of the World . Rapture occurs
2009. Flashforward. At the CERN something goes horribly awry.
2010 World's oil supply will reach its maximum production.
2010. Half of all automobiles and trucks will be electric
2012. End of the World . Bible Code shows earth hit by devastating comet.
2012 Great Cycle of the Maya is 5,125 years in length comes to an end.
2012. End of the World. The earth enters the Photon Belt from the Pleiades.
2014. End of the World . Pope Leo XIX prediction ca 1514.
2014. Planned launch of the Terrestrial Planet Finder by NASA.
2015. Fossil industry will start to feel the cumulative heat of dwindling oil supply,
2015. Greenhouse gas emissions in developing world exceed industrialized world.
2016. End of the World . Biological plague released that kills all of humanity.
2016. Possible date for the flyby of the New Horizons mission with Pluto.
2017. End of the World . according to Sword of God Brotherhood.
2018. End of the World . Comet or Asteroid collides with earth.
2019. Cities in Flight. Gravitron polarity generator invented (James Blish)
2020. About one-fourth of children will live in poverty,
2020. Skill shortage of nine million college educated workers
2020 Estimated population could be at 8 billion people.
2020. Global natural gas production is expected to "peak" by now.
2020 Massive and uncontrolled deforestation in Africa
2020. Government will owe the Social Security Trust Fund $3 trillion,
2020. Minority students will represent 46% of all students in the United States.
2020 Mt. Kilimanjaro - complete loss of snow
2020. Podkayne of Mars. Intra-planet travel is commonplace. (Robert Heinlein)
2022. Soylent Green events begin.
2024. End of the World . Asteroid hits earth.
2025. Childhood's End. 50 years after the Overlords arrived in 1975, (Arthur C. Clarke)
2025. Milky Way invisible eastern half of the United States
2025 Two out of every three people on Earth will live in water-stressed conditions.
2028. End of the World . Asteroid 1997 XF11 within 600,000 miles. Could collide.
2030. End of the World . Predicted by Sun Microsystems Chief Scientist.
2030 The projected insolvancy date for the Medicare Trust Fund
2030. One in four American women will be over the age of 65.
2030. Peak aging of baby boom generation. Total population 50.8 million
2030. The world's automobile population will surpass one billion,
2030. Global warming could flood New York subways, airports coastal areas
2030. World population 9.6 billion. 96% of the addition in developing nations,
2030. The Star Dwellers. Haertel faster than light drive invented (James Blish)
2036. The Light of Other Days. 'WormCam' invented (Arthur C. Clarke)
2038. End of the World. Massive starvation and polar icecaps melt. 2038.
2040. No distinction between a commercial airliner a commercial launch vehicle:
2040. Population of California will essentially double to 60 million people.
2042. Timemaster. First expedition to Alpha Centauri. Warpgate. (Robert Forward)
2047. End of the World . Predicted by the Church of BLAIR.
2049. Robots will be doing many household chores such as cooking, lawn-mowing,
2050. The impact of global warming is expected to be obvious by now.
2050. People of color will comprise nearly 50 percent of the U.S. population.
2050. U.S. Glacier National Park will contain no glaciers.
2050. Jet contrails to be significant climate factor by 2050
2050. Ozone layer will begin to repair itself
2050. The world population 9-11 billion
2050. World energy consumption will double or triple by 2050
2050. Photovoltaic solar energy of 18% in the entire electricity
2050, Fuel-cell electric power will predominate.
2050. Petroleum reserves are finally exhausted
2050. Human population estimated at 10-12 billion.
2050. Death of the Oil Economy.
2050. Earth-dwellers will probably be able to travel to the moon
2050. Globe will warm up by 1.5 - 4.5 degrees Celsius if CO2 at 600 ppm
2053. Third World War. Zefram Cochrane invents space warp drive (Star Trek)
2058. Lost in Space movie. Jupiter 2 is launched from Earth.
2060. Population of the United States is now at 560 million Americans
2061. Babylon 5. First permanent lunar colony established.
2061. Halley's Comet returns. This is the 31st time
2065. Procyon's Promise. A Maker ship enters solar system. (Michael McCollum)
2076. End of the World . Bede the Venerable, an 8th Century christian theologian.
2083. Alien movie begin its history.
2084, Transit of Earth as seen from Mars (November 10th)
2088 Computer will be twice as smart and twice as insightful as any human being
2090. Great Lakes water levels will likely be one to three feet lower;
2095. Chinese economy has grown by a factor of more than 50,
2100. Two-thirds of the world's 6,700 languages will have died.
2100. Average temperature increases worldwide of more than 3 degrees Celsius
2100. Population in the year 2100 may be in the range 10 to II billion.
2100 Sea level in 2100, would be about 0.4 metres.
2100. Atmospheric CO2 will increase to 700 ppm by Temps by 3.5 °F (1.9 °C)
2100. The Ring of Charon. Earth is accidentally destroyed (Roger MacBride Allen)
2101. Babylon 5. First martian base established.
2102. Polaris reaches its closest position with respect to the North Celestial Pole.
2119. Orphans of the Sky. First Proxima Centauri Expedition (Robert Heinlein)
2150. Dr Who and his traveling companions use his time machine and visit Earth
2115. Childhood's End. All adult humans are now extinct, (Arthur C. Clarke)
2125. Childhood's End. The Earth is destroyed (Arthur C.Clarke)
2130. Rama Revealed. Alien artifact enters the solar system (Arthur C. Clark)
2197. The Engines of God. The Iapetus Expedition. (Jack McDevitt)
2199. The Matrix. the world is now being run by an artificial intelligence..
2200. Galaxies Like Grains of Sand. The Procyon Colony is settled. (Brian Aldis)
2218. Star Trek. First contact with Klingon Empire
2245. Babylon 5. The Earth-Minbari War begins with the death of Dukat.
2261. Babylon 5. The Shadow-Vorlon war at Coridian.
2264. Star Trek. Captain Kirk begins the historic 'Five year Mission'
2267. Babylon 5. Drakh release plague on Earth. Humanity annihilated except Rangers.
2300. The End of Eternity. Humans discover the Temporal Field. (Isaac Asimov)
2341. The Man-Kazin War begins. (Larry Niven)
2367. Star Trek Next Generation. The Borg attack the Federation.
2375. Cities in Flight. Earth cities wander the galaxy (James Blish)
2400. Eon. Humans hollow out the asteroid Ceres and install The Way, (Greg Baer)
2439. The Sundered Worlds. End of the universe. (Michael Moorcock)
2487. Buck Rogers TV series
2512. Antares Dawn (Michael McCollum)
2525. Zager and Evans: In the year 2525,
2600. The End of Eternity. Time travel created (Isaac Asimov)
3001. Ring. Space travel with GUT-drive and wormhole technology. (Stephen Baxter)
3100. Earth's next little ice age could occur
3111. Cities in Flight. New York is launched into space.(James Blish)
3175. A Canticle for Leibowitz. Earth destroyed by nuclear war (Walter Miller)
3262. Babylon 5. On a decimated Earth, monks collect artifacts to reconstruct past
3500. The Songs of Distant Earth. The quantum drive is invented. (Arthur C. Clarke)
3620. Songs of Distant Earth. Earth destroyed as the Sun goes nova. (Arthur C.Clarke)
3850. The Corridors of Time. Time travel is invented. (Poul Anderson)
4000. The Chaos Weapon. Trans-continuum drives. (Colin Kapp)
4000 Earth's magnetic field would vanish, perhaps reversing polarity
4004. Cities in Flight. Rebirth of the universe. (James Blish)
4874. Ring. Conquest of human planets by Squeem. (Stephen Baxter)
5088. Ring. Conquest of human planets by Qax (Stephen Baxter)
5500. Ring. Third human expansion begins into galaxy. (Stephen Baxter)
10,000. Ring. Humans become dominant species in galaxy (Stephen Baxter)
11,500. Because of precession, Earth will then be closer to the sun in July
12,000. The Wizard of Linn. (A.E. van Vogt)
16,000. Vega is now the North Pole Star.
20,000. Global climate would be naturally heading towards another ice age.
23,000. A full-scale glaciation, much like the last one, will culminate
23,125,. The star Thuban is now the North Pole Star.
26,000. Hari Sheldon establishes the Foundation. (Isaac Asimov)
26,390. Dune. House Atreides moves to Arakis (Frank Herbert)
27,827. Polaris returns to its closest offset from North Celestial Pole
30,000 Pioneer 10 passes close to nearby star Ross 248, 10 light years distant
50,000 Solar system enters a piece of 'Local Fluff'
80,000 Peak of the next ice age,
82,000. Galaxies Like Grains of Sand. Space travel resumes.(Brian Aldis)
100,000. Ring. Human assaults on Xeelee concentrations begins. (Stephen Baxter)
202,000. Return to the Stars. The Empire battles the Dark Worlds. (Edmond Hamilton)
657,208. The Time Ships. The Morlock civilization. (Stephen Baxter)
802,701 In the Time Machine chronology the Morlocks and Eloi saga unfolds.
1 million. Gleise 710 reaches closest point to Sun at 1 light years. Comet storms?
1 million . Babylon 5. Sun goes nova. Rangers become Vorlon-like beings.
1 million. Ring. Xeelee final defeat of humans (Stephen Baxter)
1 million. City and the Stars. Humans colonized the galaxy. (Arthur C. Clarke)
3 million. City and the Stars. Invaders enter Galaxy. Defeat humans. (Arthur C. Clarke)
3 million. The End of Eternity. Humans will have evolved. (Isaac Asimov)
3 million . The Betelgeuse Supernova by now.
4 million. Ring. Destruction of Ring by photino birds. (Stephen Baxter)
5 million. Ring. Last humans return to solar system in GUT ship (Stephen Baxter)
5 million. Sun reached the edge of the Local Bubble
7 million. The End of Eternity. The mysterious Hidden Centuries. (Isaac Asimov).
10 million. Ring. Extinction of baryonic life. (Stephen Baxter)
15 million. The End of Eternity. Humanity has completely died out. (Isaac Asimov)
20 million. Limit to numerical integration of the dynamics of the solar system
20 million. 35 supernovae in the Sco-Cen OB association
40 million. Galaxies Like Grains of Sand. The end of the Dark Millennia. (Brian Aldis)
66 million Sirius leaves the main sequence and starts life as a red giant
100 million City and the Stars. Humanity confined to a few cities: Diaspar (Arthur C. Clarke)
100 million Solar luminosity 1% higher. global temperature will be 10 degrees C higher.
100 million. Saturn's rings disappear.
200 million . Global temperature will be 20 degrees C higher.
225 million. Sirius is a mature red giant with a red color and a magnitude of -5.0.
250 million. World will once again be like ancient Pangea.
300 million. The binary pulsar PSR1913+16 collapses in a spectacular supernova.
300 million. Mean global temperature will be 30 degrees C higher.
342 million. Sirius enters a planetary nebula phase.
400 million. Mean global temperature will be 40 degrees C higher.
500 million. Atmosphere short of carbon dioxide that all plant will die,
500 million. Global temperature will be 50 degrees C higher.
600 million. The sun will be 5% brighter than it is today.
600 million. Earth temperature will have risen to about 350 K or 80C.
750 million. Sagittarius dwarf galaxy eaten by Milky Way.
1 billion. The City and the Stars. Human interstellar civilization (Arthur C. Clarke)
1 billion. Galaxies Like Grains of Sand. Human extinction across galaxy. (Brian Aldis)
1 billion . Earth may lose its oceans and revert to its former lifeless
1.1 billion : Sun will be 10% brighter than today. Moist Greenhouse Effect.
1.1 billion. Earth would start to lose its water via a 'moist greenhouse'
1.3 billion. Surface temperature 100 C. The surface pressure of the atmosphere is 2 bars,
1.5 billion. The City and the Stars . Humans create incorporeal beings(Arthur C. Clarke)
2 billion. Global temperature about 400 K or 130 C.
2 billion Eccentricity of the orbit of Mars exceeds 0.2.
2 billion. The City and the Stars. Alvin leaves Diaspar (Arthur C. Clarke)
2 billion. Moon no longer helpful in stabilizing our axis. Chaotic behavior eminent
2.3 billion. The solar system makes its Tenth orbit of the galactic center
3 billion. Sun reaches its hottest surface temperature of 5843 on Main Sequence
3 billion. Solar luminosity increases 33%, Global temperature 450 K or 180 C.
3 billion. Andromeda Galaxy collides with Milky Way.
3.5 billion Runaway Greenhouse Effect The oceans will evaporate into space,
3.5 billion. Mercury suffers close encounter with Venus and ejected from solar system.
3.5 billion. Earth now a twin to Venus but with water-vapor rich 100-bar atmosphere.
4.8 billion. Earth's temperature will have risen to about 1600 K or 1330 C.
5.0 billion. Sun starts to become a red giant.
7.5 billion. City at World's End. Middletown propelled into future (Edmond Hamilton)
7.55 billion. Venus at 1 AU earth 1.38 AU. Mercury engulfed, but Venus just escapes
7.68 billion. Sun engulfs Venus and Earth. Mars spared at a distance of 2.25 AU.
11 billion. Youngest globular clusters have now evaporated away.
17 billion. The City and the Stars. Mad Mind battles Vanamonde(Arthur C. Clarke)
50 billion. Earthlings will only see galaxies that are now our closest neighbors.
100 billion. Universe will be a dark and lonely place,"
100 billion. The universe is likely to remain hospitable to life
1000 billion Stars die. No more fusion-powered stars, Galaxies filled with corpses.
1500 trillion. Ring. Stars evaporate from galaxies.(Stephen Baxter)
10^17 Passing stars rip planets from stellar corpses.
10^18 Galaxies dissolve.
10^20 Orbits of planets decay via gravitational radiation
10^30 The Black Hole Age
10^31 Universe filled with supermassive black holes. Protons decay
10^32 Dead stars evaporate via proton decay
10^34 All carbon-based lifeforms become extinct (due to lack of atoms)
10^35 . Proton and neutron will decay if current GUT theories correct.
10^65 Stellar-mass black holes evaporate!
10^65 Ordinary matter liquifies due to quantum tunneling
10^66 Solar mass black holes evaporate via Hawking process
10^97 Galaxy-sized black holes will also evaporate.
10^100 Supermassive black holes evaporate.
10^110 . The Dark Age no known process which will ever change things.
10^122 Protons decay via Hawking process
10^1500 Ordinary matter surviving GUTs or Hawking process, decays into iron
10^10^26 All iron nuclei collapse into black holes
__________________________________________________________________
////////////////////////=ASTRNMY CAFE
//////////////////MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
A LONG WALK TO FREEDOM-NLSN MNDLA
There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
- Nelson Mandela, "A Long Walk to Freedom"
//////////////If you shut your door to all errors, truth will be shut out.
Rabindranath Tagore
//////////////////JNDIAN DRS O U=PRANG VTAN
//////////////////////
'bsian girls are Hot while bsian boys are Not'
///////////////////////
- Nelson Mandela, "A Long Walk to Freedom"
//////////////If you shut your door to all errors, truth will be shut out.
Rabindranath Tagore
//////////////////JNDIAN DRS O U=PRANG VTAN
//////////////////////
'bsian girls are Hot while bsian boys are Not'
///////////////////////
Monday, 23 March 2009
A LONG WALK TO FREEDOM-NLSN MNDLA
There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
- Nelson Mandela, "A Long Walk to Freedom"
//////////////If you shut your door to all errors, truth will be shut out.
Rabindranath Tagore
//////////////////JNDIAN DRS O U=PRANG VTAN
//////////////////////
'bsian girls are Hot while bsian boys are Not'
///////////////////////
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
STATINS-FATIGUE
Cholesterol drugs linked to increased fatigue
People prescribed widely used cholesterol-busting drugs called statins may be more likely to feel fatigued than those who don't, a new study finds.
///////////////
People prescribed widely used cholesterol-busting drugs called statins may be more likely to feel fatigued than those who don't, a new study finds.
///////////////
CDS-170309-SHESHER SHURU-ADAM-SHRN FTHR STRK 80
///////////////////MGN TLR-NTSHA RCHRDSN-HIE-TBI-UFTOE-ADAM
///////////////RBNSN CRUSOE-As I had once done thus in my breaking away from my Parents, so I could not be content now, but I must go and leave the happy View I had of being a rich and thriving Man in my new Plantation, only to pursue a rash and immoderate Desire of rising faster than the Nature of the Thing admitted; and thus I cast my self down again into the deepest Gulph of human Misery that ever Man fell into, or perhaps could be consistent with Life and a State of Health in the World. (p.29)
///////////////Upon the whole, here was an undoubted Testimony, that there was scarce any Condition in the World so miserable, but there was something Negative or something Positive to be thankful for in it; and let this stand as a Direction from the Experience of the most miserable of all conditions in this World, that we may always find in it something to comfort our selves from, and to set in the description of Good and Evil, on the Credit Side of the Accompt. (p. 50)
/////////////////////Robinson Crusoe
While he is no flashy hero or grand epic adventurer, Robinson Crusoe displays character traits that have won him the approval of generations of readers. His perseverance in spending months making a canoe, and in practicing pottery making until he gets it right, is praiseworthy. Additionally, his resourcefulness in building a home, dairy, grape arbor, country house, and goat stable from practically nothing is clearly remarkable. The Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau applauded Crusoe's do-it-yourself independence, and in his book on education, Emile, he recommends that children be taught to imitate Crusoe's hands-on approach to life. Crusoe's business instincts are just as considerable as his survival instincts: he manages to make a fortune in Brazil despite a twenty-eight-year absence and even leaves his island with a nice collection of gold. Moreover, Crusoe is never interested in portraying himself as a hero in his own narration. He does not boast of his courage in quelling the mutiny, and he is always ready to admit unheroic feelings of fear or panic, as when he finds the footprint on the beach. Crusoe prefers to depict himself as an ordinary sensible man, never as an exceptional hero.
///////////////////////Now I saw, though too late, the folly of beginning a work before we count the cost, and before we judge rightly of our own strength to go through with it.
////////////////////
Amidst the Flowers a Jug of Wine
Amidst the flowers a jug of wine,
I pour alone lacking companionship.
So raising the cup I invite the Moon,
Then turn to my shadow which makes three of us.
Because the Moon does not know how to drink,
My shadow merely follows the movement of my body.
The moon has brought the shadow to keep me company a while,
The practice of mirth should keep pace with spring.
I start a song and the moon begins to reel,
I rise and dance and the shadow moves grotesquely.
While I'm still conscious let's rejoice with one another,
After I'm drunk let each one go his way.
Let us bind ourselves for ever for passionless journeyings.
Let us swear to meet again far in the Milky Way.
Li Po
/////////////////If you are going through hell, keep going.-Churchill
////////////////////LUCK-MODESTY-SKILL
/////////////////////Brain on a chip?
PhysOrg.com Mar. 16, 2009
*************************
European researchers are building a
neuromorphic computer that will work
similar to the brain, at smaller
scale. The first effort is a network
of 300 artificial neurons and half a
million "synapses" on a single chip....
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=10282&m=16816
///////////////////////Consciousness signature'
discovered spanning the brain
New Scientist Health Mar. 17, 2009
*************************
Consciousness arises from the
coordinated activity of the entire
brain, research headed by INSERM in
France has found, taking us closer
to finding an objective
"consciousness signature" that could
be used to probe for brain damage
without inserting...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=10277&m=16816
///////////////////////
///////////////RBNSN CRUSOE-As I had once done thus in my breaking away from my Parents, so I could not be content now, but I must go and leave the happy View I had of being a rich and thriving Man in my new Plantation, only to pursue a rash and immoderate Desire of rising faster than the Nature of the Thing admitted; and thus I cast my self down again into the deepest Gulph of human Misery that ever Man fell into, or perhaps could be consistent with Life and a State of Health in the World. (p.29)
///////////////Upon the whole, here was an undoubted Testimony, that there was scarce any Condition in the World so miserable, but there was something Negative or something Positive to be thankful for in it; and let this stand as a Direction from the Experience of the most miserable of all conditions in this World, that we may always find in it something to comfort our selves from, and to set in the description of Good and Evil, on the Credit Side of the Accompt. (p. 50)
/////////////////////Robinson Crusoe
While he is no flashy hero or grand epic adventurer, Robinson Crusoe displays character traits that have won him the approval of generations of readers. His perseverance in spending months making a canoe, and in practicing pottery making until he gets it right, is praiseworthy. Additionally, his resourcefulness in building a home, dairy, grape arbor, country house, and goat stable from practically nothing is clearly remarkable. The Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau applauded Crusoe's do-it-yourself independence, and in his book on education, Emile, he recommends that children be taught to imitate Crusoe's hands-on approach to life. Crusoe's business instincts are just as considerable as his survival instincts: he manages to make a fortune in Brazil despite a twenty-eight-year absence and even leaves his island with a nice collection of gold. Moreover, Crusoe is never interested in portraying himself as a hero in his own narration. He does not boast of his courage in quelling the mutiny, and he is always ready to admit unheroic feelings of fear or panic, as when he finds the footprint on the beach. Crusoe prefers to depict himself as an ordinary sensible man, never as an exceptional hero.
///////////////////////Now I saw, though too late, the folly of beginning a work before we count the cost, and before we judge rightly of our own strength to go through with it.
////////////////////
Amidst the Flowers a Jug of Wine
Amidst the flowers a jug of wine,
I pour alone lacking companionship.
So raising the cup I invite the Moon,
Then turn to my shadow which makes three of us.
Because the Moon does not know how to drink,
My shadow merely follows the movement of my body.
The moon has brought the shadow to keep me company a while,
The practice of mirth should keep pace with spring.
I start a song and the moon begins to reel,
I rise and dance and the shadow moves grotesquely.
While I'm still conscious let's rejoice with one another,
After I'm drunk let each one go his way.
Let us bind ourselves for ever for passionless journeyings.
Let us swear to meet again far in the Milky Way.
Li Po
/////////////////If you are going through hell, keep going.-Churchill
////////////////////LUCK-MODESTY-SKILL
/////////////////////Brain on a chip?
PhysOrg.com Mar. 16, 2009
*************************
European researchers are building a
neuromorphic computer that will work
similar to the brain, at smaller
scale. The first effort is a network
of 300 artificial neurons and half a
million "synapses" on a single chip....
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=10282&m=16816
///////////////////////Consciousness signature'
discovered spanning the brain
New Scientist Health Mar. 17, 2009
*************************
Consciousness arises from the
coordinated activity of the entire
brain, research headed by INSERM in
France has found, taking us closer
to finding an objective
"consciousness signature" that could
be used to probe for brain damage
without inserting...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=10277&m=16816
///////////////////////
Saturday, 14 March 2009
PANGON
Pantheism was that 'Nature is God
////////////////If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.
Posted: 13 Mar 2009 04:00 AM PDT
~ Martin Luther King Jr
/////////////////SO WS THE BST SG PED
///////////////
To really get in the habit of reusing, focus on:
Reusable shopping bags
Lunch boxes and Tupperware containers
Buying in bulk
Borrowing from others instead of purchasing
Rethinking your “trash” – you may be able to make something new out of that old desk
///////////////////Have you considered purchasing recycled-content bathroom tissues or paper towels when stocking up on these supplies for your home? According to Greenpeace’s recent release of its first Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide, “Americans could save more than 400,000 trees if each family bought a roll of recycled toilet paper—just once.”
/////////////////////Stop Buying!
It can be as simple as this: if you don’t buy waste, you can’t make waste. For example, a group in San Francisco did exactly that. They set out to buy nothing new for an entire year. While that might not work for everyone, the essence of it is definitely applicable in different-sized doses. Do you really need another (fill in the blank)?
Do you already have something at home that will work? Do your friends or family have something you can use or borrow? Even if it ends up that you need to buy it anyway, just getting into the habit of thinking about alternatives is a step in the right direction. Be open-minded, and see where it leads you!
/////////////////////Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."
— Dr. Seuss
/////////////////This study shows that breastfeeding reduced the risk of sudden infant death syndrome by ~50% at all ages throughout infancy. We recommend including the advice to breastfeed through 6 months of age in sudden infant death syndrome risk-reduction messages.
//////////////////////
////////////////If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.
Posted: 13 Mar 2009 04:00 AM PDT
~ Martin Luther King Jr
/////////////////SO WS THE BST SG PED
///////////////
To really get in the habit of reusing, focus on:
Reusable shopping bags
Lunch boxes and Tupperware containers
Buying in bulk
Borrowing from others instead of purchasing
Rethinking your “trash” – you may be able to make something new out of that old desk
///////////////////Have you considered purchasing recycled-content bathroom tissues or paper towels when stocking up on these supplies for your home? According to Greenpeace’s recent release of its first Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide, “Americans could save more than 400,000 trees if each family bought a roll of recycled toilet paper—just once.”
/////////////////////Stop Buying!
It can be as simple as this: if you don’t buy waste, you can’t make waste. For example, a group in San Francisco did exactly that. They set out to buy nothing new for an entire year. While that might not work for everyone, the essence of it is definitely applicable in different-sized doses. Do you really need another (fill in the blank)?
Do you already have something at home that will work? Do your friends or family have something you can use or borrow? Even if it ends up that you need to buy it anyway, just getting into the habit of thinking about alternatives is a step in the right direction. Be open-minded, and see where it leads you!
/////////////////////Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."
— Dr. Seuss
/////////////////This study shows that breastfeeding reduced the risk of sudden infant death syndrome by ~50% at all ages throughout infancy. We recommend including the advice to breastfeed through 6 months of age in sudden infant death syndrome risk-reduction messages.
//////////////////////
CDS 140309-FRNT FLSHR CAR BLB CRSS
To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult."
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
////////////////Machiavellian (adjective)
Pronunciation: [mak-ee-ê-'vel-ee-ên]
Definition: (1) Characterized by unscrupulous cunning, deception, or expediency; (2) manipulative, resorting to exploiting and misleading others in pursuit of one's personal goals.
Usage: Today's word is the adjective that expresses the conviction that the ends justify any means, including unethical and immoral ones. It is not used as an adverb but the noun is "Machiavellianism." Since the word's eponym persists as a topic of conversation itself, we continue to capitalize it, even though it is used as a common adjective.
///////////////////////////
We cannot really love anybody with whom we never laugh.
~Mary Roberts Rhinehart~
///////////////////////////"Thoughts are always arising. That is the job of the mind. Let the mind get on with its job and leave the thoughts alone."
/////////////////////////QOTW=
Which painting in the National Gallery would I save if there was a fire? The one nearest the door of course.
George Bernard Shaw, 07/26/1856 - 11/02/1950
Erse dramatist, author and Nobel Prize Laureate
////////////////////Cheat me in the price, but not in the goods.
—English proverb
///////////////////A child may have too much of his mother's blessing.
-- Scottish Proverb
If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but geniuses.
-- Goethe
////////////////The future that we study and plan for begins today.
Chester O. Fischer
//////////////////The BBC series "Child of Our Time" assumes that studying children with their parents will help us understand how their personalities develop. But this is a mistake: parents influence their children mainly by passing on their genes. The biggest environmental influences on personality are those that occur outside the home
Judith Rich Harris
///////////////////////
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
////////////////Machiavellian (adjective)
Pronunciation: [mak-ee-ê-'vel-ee-ên]
Definition: (1) Characterized by unscrupulous cunning, deception, or expediency; (2) manipulative, resorting to exploiting and misleading others in pursuit of one's personal goals.
Usage: Today's word is the adjective that expresses the conviction that the ends justify any means, including unethical and immoral ones. It is not used as an adverb but the noun is "Machiavellianism." Since the word's eponym persists as a topic of conversation itself, we continue to capitalize it, even though it is used as a common adjective.
///////////////////////////
We cannot really love anybody with whom we never laugh.
~Mary Roberts Rhinehart~
///////////////////////////"Thoughts are always arising. That is the job of the mind. Let the mind get on with its job and leave the thoughts alone."
/////////////////////////QOTW=
Which painting in the National Gallery would I save if there was a fire? The one nearest the door of course.
George Bernard Shaw, 07/26/1856 - 11/02/1950
Erse dramatist, author and Nobel Prize Laureate
////////////////////Cheat me in the price, but not in the goods.
—English proverb
///////////////////A child may have too much of his mother's blessing.
-- Scottish Proverb
If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but geniuses.
-- Goethe
////////////////The future that we study and plan for begins today.
Chester O. Fischer
//////////////////The BBC series "Child of Our Time" assumes that studying children with their parents will help us understand how their personalities develop. But this is a mistake: parents influence their children mainly by passing on their genes. The biggest environmental influences on personality are those that occur outside the home
Judith Rich Harris
///////////////////////
Thursday, 12 March 2009
CDS 120309-HSP PHTO BR BLOW ELBOW CRSS
////////////////////MTHRFCKR,WHO ASKD U TO PRNT M PHTO WTHT PRMSSN?
//////////////////RLCTNT DTR-ABSV WF-DMSTC CRSS TUNGEY
/////////////////
//////////////////RLCTNT DTR-ABSV WF-DMSTC CRSS TUNGEY
/////////////////
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
BRNMIND
Theory of mind' could help explain belief in God
21:00 09 March 2009 by Andy Coghlan
For similar stories, visit the The Human Brain , Evolution and Human Evolution Topic Guides
Once we had evolved the necessary brain architecture, we could "do" religion, brain scans indicate.
The research shows that, to interpret a god's intentions and feelings, we rely mainly on the same recently evolved brain regions that divine the feelings and intentions of other people.
"We're interested to find where in the brain belief systems are represented, particularly those that appear uniquely human," says lead researcher, Jordan Grafman of the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland.
The researchers found that such beliefs "light up" the areas of our brain which have evolved most recently, such as those involved in imagination, memory and "theory of mind" - the recognition that other people and living things can have their own thoughts and intentions.
"They don't tell us about the existence of a higher order power like God," says Grafman. "They only address how the mind and brain work in tandem to allow us to have belief systems that guide our everyday actions."
Core elements
In the study, the researchers gave 40 religious volunteers functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans as they responded to statements reflecting three core elements of belief. For each statement, they had to say on a scale how much they agreed or disagreed. The volunteers were believers in monotheist religions such as Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
First, volunteers responded to statements about whether God intervenes in the world or not, such as "God is removed from the world".
Here, brain activity was focused mainly in the lateral frontal lobe regions of the brain where theory of mind takes shape, enabling us to interpret other people's intentions. The regions link to mirror neurons which enable us to empathise with other people.
Second, the volunteers mulled statements on God's emotional state, such as "God is wrathful". Again, and as the researchers predicted, the activated areas were those where theory of mind enables us to judge emotion in others, such as the medial temporal and frontal gyri.
Finally, the volunteers heard statements reflecting the abstract language and imagery of religion, such as "Jesus is the Son of God" or "God dictates celebrating the Sabbath", or "a resurrection will occur". Here, volunteers tapped into areas of the brain such as the right inferior temporal gyrus, which decodes metaphorical meaning and abstractedness.
Recently evolved
Overall, the parts of the brain activated by the belief statements were those used for much more mundane, everyday interpretation of the world and the intentions of other people. Significantly, however, they also correspond with the parts of the brain that have evolved most recently, and which appear to which give humans more insight than other animals.
"Our results are unique in demonstrating that specific components of religious belief are mediated by well-known brain networks, and support contemporary psychological theories that ground religious belief within evolutionary adaptive cognitive functions," say the researchers.
"It's not surprising that religious beliefs engage mainly the theory-of-mind areas, as they are about virtual beings who are treated as having essentially human mental traits, just as characters in a novel or play are," comments Robin Dunbar, an anthropologist at the University of Oxford.
"But it nicely reinforces my claim that it is the higher orders of intentionality that are crucial in the development of fully fledged religion as we know it," says Dunbar.
Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0811717106).
//////////////////
21:00 09 March 2009 by Andy Coghlan
For similar stories, visit the The Human Brain , Evolution and Human Evolution Topic Guides
Once we had evolved the necessary brain architecture, we could "do" religion, brain scans indicate.
The research shows that, to interpret a god's intentions and feelings, we rely mainly on the same recently evolved brain regions that divine the feelings and intentions of other people.
"We're interested to find where in the brain belief systems are represented, particularly those that appear uniquely human," says lead researcher, Jordan Grafman of the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland.
The researchers found that such beliefs "light up" the areas of our brain which have evolved most recently, such as those involved in imagination, memory and "theory of mind" - the recognition that other people and living things can have their own thoughts and intentions.
"They don't tell us about the existence of a higher order power like God," says Grafman. "They only address how the mind and brain work in tandem to allow us to have belief systems that guide our everyday actions."
Core elements
In the study, the researchers gave 40 religious volunteers functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans as they responded to statements reflecting three core elements of belief. For each statement, they had to say on a scale how much they agreed or disagreed. The volunteers were believers in monotheist religions such as Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
First, volunteers responded to statements about whether God intervenes in the world or not, such as "God is removed from the world".
Here, brain activity was focused mainly in the lateral frontal lobe regions of the brain where theory of mind takes shape, enabling us to interpret other people's intentions. The regions link to mirror neurons which enable us to empathise with other people.
Second, the volunteers mulled statements on God's emotional state, such as "God is wrathful". Again, and as the researchers predicted, the activated areas were those where theory of mind enables us to judge emotion in others, such as the medial temporal and frontal gyri.
Finally, the volunteers heard statements reflecting the abstract language and imagery of religion, such as "Jesus is the Son of God" or "God dictates celebrating the Sabbath", or "a resurrection will occur". Here, volunteers tapped into areas of the brain such as the right inferior temporal gyrus, which decodes metaphorical meaning and abstractedness.
Recently evolved
Overall, the parts of the brain activated by the belief statements were those used for much more mundane, everyday interpretation of the world and the intentions of other people. Significantly, however, they also correspond with the parts of the brain that have evolved most recently, and which appear to which give humans more insight than other animals.
"Our results are unique in demonstrating that specific components of religious belief are mediated by well-known brain networks, and support contemporary psychological theories that ground religious belief within evolutionary adaptive cognitive functions," say the researchers.
"It's not surprising that religious beliefs engage mainly the theory-of-mind areas, as they are about virtual beings who are treated as having essentially human mental traits, just as characters in a novel or play are," comments Robin Dunbar, an anthropologist at the University of Oxford.
"But it nicely reinforces my claim that it is the higher orders of intentionality that are crucial in the development of fully fledged religion as we know it," says Dunbar.
Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0811717106).
//////////////////
DNL DFOE-RBNSN CRSOE
Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe. It was first published in 1719 and sometimes regarded as the first novel in English. The book is a fictional autobiography of the title character, an English castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Venezuela, encountering Native Americans, captives, and mutineers before being rescued. This device, presenting an account of supposedly factual events, is known as a "false document" and gives a realistic frame story.
The story was likely influenced by the real life Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived four years on the Pacific island called Más a Tierra (in 1966 its name was changed to Robinson Crusoe Island), Chile. However, the details of Crusoe's island were probably based on the Caribbean island of Tobago, since that island lies a short distance north of the Venezuelan coast near the mouth of the Orinoco river, and in sight of the island of Trinidad.[1] It is also likely that Defoe was inspired by the Latin or English translations of Ibn Tufail's Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, an earlier novel also set on a desert island.[2][3][4][5] Another source for Defoe's novel may have been Robert Knox's account of his abduction by the King of Ceylon in 1659 in "An Historical Account of the Island Ceylon," Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons (Publishers to the University), 1911.[6]
////////////////////A SON I NVR HAD
//////////////////wotd=Namby-pamby (adjective)
Pronunciation: ['næm-bi-'pæm-bi (or -bee)]
Definition: Sentimental, insipid (British); weak and indecisive (U. S.)
Usage: Odd as it might seem, this word has begged for whimsical derivations. All of the following have been recorded by the grand old Oxford English Dictionary (OED): namby-pambyish "somewhat namby-pamby," namby-pambiness "namby-pamby quality," namby-pambical "of a namby-pamby nature," and my personal favorite, namby-pambics "namby-pamby behavior, especially writing."
Suggested Usage: What attracts us to this word is all the grossly underexplored derivational possibilities lurking within it: "If you want to see some absolutely masterful namby-pambics, watch George tell his daughter how she must reduce the charges to her credit card." "Your wife is seeing another man and you bought her a new dress so she wouldn't embarrass you? That is the most namby-pambical idea I've ever heard of!"
Etymology: A fanciful rhyming pair based on the name of Ambrose Philips, author of sentimental (namby-pamby) pastorals ridiculed by Carey and Pope, including Carey's 1726 work, 'Namby Pamby.'
////////////////Namby-pamby (adjective)
Pronunciation: ['næm-bi-'pæm-bi (or -bee)]
Definition: Sentimental, insipid (British); weak and indecisive (U. S.)
Usage: Odd as it might seem, this word has begged for whimsical derivations. All of the following have been recorded by the grand old Oxford English Dictionary (OED): namby-pambyish "somewhat namby-pamby," namby-pambiness "namby-pamby quality," namby-pambical "of a namby-pamby nature," and my personal favorite, namby-pambics "namby-pamby behavior, especially writing."
Suggested Usage: What attracts us to this word is all the grossly underexplored derivational possibilities lurking within it: "If you want to see some absolutely masterful namby-pambics, watch George tell his daughter how she must reduce the charges to her credit card." "Your wife is seeing another man and you bought her a new dress so she wouldn't embarrass you? That is the most namby-pambical idea I've ever heard of!"
Etymology: A fanciful rhyming pair based on the name of Ambrose Philips, author of sentimental (namby-pamby) pastorals ridiculed by Carey and Pope, including Carey's 1726 work, 'Namby Pamby.'
///////////////////ADHD, Sleep, and Children
A study published last weekshows that children with ADHD have significantly shorter sleep times than the non-ADHD control group.
The children with ADHD in the study got an average of 8 hours, 19 minutes of sleep per night, while the control group averaged 8 hours, 52 minutes of sleep. This missing half-hour of sleep each night adds up over the course of a week, a month, a year. The study also reported that the ADHD children had less REM sleep time each night than the control group.
So parents, this gives us good reasons to consider how our family spends its time from about 7:00pm and later into the evening. Try to structure the evening so that your children can wind-down, relax, and get ready for a full night's sleep. The results could be better performance at school the following day.
ADHDLI=
///////////////////NS=
Second Genesis: Life, but not as we know it
11 March 2009 by Bob Holmes
Magazine issue 2699. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
For similar stories, visit the Genetics and Evolution Topic Guides
Part 1: Making new life
Part 2: The search for shadow life
Gallery: What might shadow life be like?
WHEN the Nobel prizewinning physicist Richard Feynman died in 1988, his blackboard carried the inscription, "What I cannot create, I do not understand." By that measure, biologists still have a lot to learn, because no one has yet succeeded in turning a chemical soup into a living, reproducing, evolving life form. We're still stuck with Life 1.0, the stuff that first quickened at least 3.5 billion years ago. There's been nothing new under the sun since then, as far as we know.
That looks likely to change. Around the world, several labs are drawing close to the threshold of a second genesis, an achievement that some would call one of the most profound scientific breakthroughs of all time. David Deamer, a biochemist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has been saying that scientists would create synthetic life in "five or 10 years" for three decades, but finally he might actually be right. "The momentum is building," he says. "We're knocking at the door."
Meanwhile, a no-less profound search is on for a "shadow biosphere" - life forms that are unrelated to the life we know because they are descendants of an independent origin of life. We know for sure that life got going on Earth once, so why couldn't it have happened twice? Many scientists argue that there is no reason why a second genesis might not have taken place, and no reason why its descendants should not still be living among us.
So the appearance of an "alien" organism seems imminent - we may find one that arose naturally, or engineer one in the lab. Either way, it's a momentous step. Until now, biologists have had to base their understanding of life on the plants, animals and microbes that surround us, which all share a common ancestor. That doesn't give much perspective.
"When you have a single example, it's very hard to know whether it's representative," says Carol Cleland, a philosopher of science and astrobiologist at the University of Colorado in Boulder. "If you were an alien biologist who's interested in understanding what a mammal was, and all you had was zebras, it's very unlikely that you would focus on their mammary glands, because only half the specimens have them. You'd probably focus on the stripes, which are ubiquitous."
Discovering - or engineering - a second genesis wouldn't just broaden our view of life. Alternative life forms could supply biotechnologists with fresh molecules and new functions that they could apply to practical problems. A synthetic, made-to-order living system might even serve as a self-maintaining, self-improving, adaptable assembly line for producing everything from pharmaceuticals to petrochemicals. Over the next four pages we first report on rapid progress in the lab, and then bring news from the field, as researchers race to make what could be one of science's most far-reaching breakthroughs.
/////////////////
The story was likely influenced by the real life Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived four years on the Pacific island called Más a Tierra (in 1966 its name was changed to Robinson Crusoe Island), Chile. However, the details of Crusoe's island were probably based on the Caribbean island of Tobago, since that island lies a short distance north of the Venezuelan coast near the mouth of the Orinoco river, and in sight of the island of Trinidad.[1] It is also likely that Defoe was inspired by the Latin or English translations of Ibn Tufail's Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, an earlier novel also set on a desert island.[2][3][4][5] Another source for Defoe's novel may have been Robert Knox's account of his abduction by the King of Ceylon in 1659 in "An Historical Account of the Island Ceylon," Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons (Publishers to the University), 1911.[6]
////////////////////A SON I NVR HAD
//////////////////wotd=Namby-pamby (adjective)
Pronunciation: ['næm-bi-'pæm-bi (or -bee)]
Definition: Sentimental, insipid (British); weak and indecisive (U. S.)
Usage: Odd as it might seem, this word has begged for whimsical derivations. All of the following have been recorded by the grand old Oxford English Dictionary (OED): namby-pambyish "somewhat namby-pamby," namby-pambiness "namby-pamby quality," namby-pambical "of a namby-pamby nature," and my personal favorite, namby-pambics "namby-pamby behavior, especially writing."
Suggested Usage: What attracts us to this word is all the grossly underexplored derivational possibilities lurking within it: "If you want to see some absolutely masterful namby-pambics, watch George tell his daughter how she must reduce the charges to her credit card." "Your wife is seeing another man and you bought her a new dress so she wouldn't embarrass you? That is the most namby-pambical idea I've ever heard of!"
Etymology: A fanciful rhyming pair based on the name of Ambrose Philips, author of sentimental (namby-pamby) pastorals ridiculed by Carey and Pope, including Carey's 1726 work, 'Namby Pamby.'
////////////////Namby-pamby (adjective)
Pronunciation: ['næm-bi-'pæm-bi (or -bee)]
Definition: Sentimental, insipid (British); weak and indecisive (U. S.)
Usage: Odd as it might seem, this word has begged for whimsical derivations. All of the following have been recorded by the grand old Oxford English Dictionary (OED): namby-pambyish "somewhat namby-pamby," namby-pambiness "namby-pamby quality," namby-pambical "of a namby-pamby nature," and my personal favorite, namby-pambics "namby-pamby behavior, especially writing."
Suggested Usage: What attracts us to this word is all the grossly underexplored derivational possibilities lurking within it: "If you want to see some absolutely masterful namby-pambics, watch George tell his daughter how she must reduce the charges to her credit card." "Your wife is seeing another man and you bought her a new dress so she wouldn't embarrass you? That is the most namby-pambical idea I've ever heard of!"
Etymology: A fanciful rhyming pair based on the name of Ambrose Philips, author of sentimental (namby-pamby) pastorals ridiculed by Carey and Pope, including Carey's 1726 work, 'Namby Pamby.'
///////////////////ADHD, Sleep, and Children
A study published last weekshows that children with ADHD have significantly shorter sleep times than the non-ADHD control group.
The children with ADHD in the study got an average of 8 hours, 19 minutes of sleep per night, while the control group averaged 8 hours, 52 minutes of sleep. This missing half-hour of sleep each night adds up over the course of a week, a month, a year. The study also reported that the ADHD children had less REM sleep time each night than the control group.
So parents, this gives us good reasons to consider how our family spends its time from about 7:00pm and later into the evening. Try to structure the evening so that your children can wind-down, relax, and get ready for a full night's sleep. The results could be better performance at school the following day.
ADHDLI=
///////////////////NS=
Second Genesis: Life, but not as we know it
11 March 2009 by Bob Holmes
Magazine issue 2699. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
For similar stories, visit the Genetics and Evolution Topic Guides
Part 1: Making new life
Part 2: The search for shadow life
Gallery: What might shadow life be like?
WHEN the Nobel prizewinning physicist Richard Feynman died in 1988, his blackboard carried the inscription, "What I cannot create, I do not understand." By that measure, biologists still have a lot to learn, because no one has yet succeeded in turning a chemical soup into a living, reproducing, evolving life form. We're still stuck with Life 1.0, the stuff that first quickened at least 3.5 billion years ago. There's been nothing new under the sun since then, as far as we know.
That looks likely to change. Around the world, several labs are drawing close to the threshold of a second genesis, an achievement that some would call one of the most profound scientific breakthroughs of all time. David Deamer, a biochemist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has been saying that scientists would create synthetic life in "five or 10 years" for three decades, but finally he might actually be right. "The momentum is building," he says. "We're knocking at the door."
Meanwhile, a no-less profound search is on for a "shadow biosphere" - life forms that are unrelated to the life we know because they are descendants of an independent origin of life. We know for sure that life got going on Earth once, so why couldn't it have happened twice? Many scientists argue that there is no reason why a second genesis might not have taken place, and no reason why its descendants should not still be living among us.
So the appearance of an "alien" organism seems imminent - we may find one that arose naturally, or engineer one in the lab. Either way, it's a momentous step. Until now, biologists have had to base their understanding of life on the plants, animals and microbes that surround us, which all share a common ancestor. That doesn't give much perspective.
"When you have a single example, it's very hard to know whether it's representative," says Carol Cleland, a philosopher of science and astrobiologist at the University of Colorado in Boulder. "If you were an alien biologist who's interested in understanding what a mammal was, and all you had was zebras, it's very unlikely that you would focus on their mammary glands, because only half the specimens have them. You'd probably focus on the stripes, which are ubiquitous."
Discovering - or engineering - a second genesis wouldn't just broaden our view of life. Alternative life forms could supply biotechnologists with fresh molecules and new functions that they could apply to practical problems. A synthetic, made-to-order living system might even serve as a self-maintaining, self-improving, adaptable assembly line for producing everything from pharmaceuticals to petrochemicals. Over the next four pages we first report on rapid progress in the lab, and then bring news from the field, as researchers race to make what could be one of science's most far-reaching breakthroughs.
/////////////////
Monday, 9 March 2009
WF AD OBSTY CRSS
It is impossible not to love someone who makes toast for you.
—Nigel Slater
///////////////All misery derives from the inability to sit in a quiet room alone.
Posted: 09 Mar 2009 04:00 AM PDT
~ unknown (via Jared Akers)
/////////////////////Everyone loves justice in the affairs of another.
-- Italian Proverb
Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.
-- H. L. Mencken
/////////////////I WRK ,THEREFORE I AM
////////////////
The future is an unknown, but a somewhat predictable unknown. To look to the future we must first look back upon the past. That is where the seeds of the future were planted. I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.
- Albert Einstein, "Interview, 1930"
//////////////////FERMILAB=
Fermilab collider experiments discover rare single top quark
Batavia, Ill.--Scientists of the CDF and DZero collaborations at the
Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have observed
particle collisions that produce single top quarks. The discovery of the
single top confirms important parameters of particle physics, including
the total number of quarks, and has significance for the ongoing search
for the Higgs particle at Fermilab's Tevatron, currently the world's most
powerful operating particle accelerator.
Previously, top quarks had only been observed when produced by the strong
nuclear force. That interaction leads to the production of pairs of top
quarks. The production of single top quarks, which involves the weak
nuclear force and is harder to identify experimentally, has now been
observed, almost 14 years to the day of the top quark discovery in 1995.
Searching for single-top production makes finding a needle in a haystack
look easy. Only one in every 20 billion proton-antiproton collisions
produces a single top quark. Even worse, the signal of these rare
occurrences is easily mimicked by other "background" processes that occur
at much higher rates.
"Observation of the single top quark production is an important milestone
for the Tevatron program," said Dr. Dennis Kovar, Associate Director of
the Office of Science for High Energy Physics at the U.S. Department of
Energy. "Furthermore, the highly sensitive and successful analysis is an
important step in the search for the Higgs."
Discovering the single top quark production presents challenges similar to
the Higgs boson search in the need to extract an extremely small signal
from a very large background. Advanced analysis techniques pioneered for
the single top discovery are now in use for the Higgs boson search. In
addition, the single top and the Higgs signals have backgrounds in common,
and the single top is itself a background for the Higgs particle.
To make the single-top discovery, physicists of the CDF and DZero
collaborations spent years combing independently through the results of
proton-antiproton collisions recorded by their experiments, respectively.
Each team identified several thousand collision events that looked the way
experimenters expect single top events to appear. Sophisticated
statistical analysis and detailed background modeling showed that a few
hundred collision events produced the real thing. On March 4, the two
teams submitted their independent results to Physical Review Letters.
The two collaborations earlier had reported preliminary results on the
search for the single top. Since then, experimenters have more than
doubled the amount of data analyzed and sharpened selection and analysis
techniques, making the discovery possible. For each experiment, the
probability that background events have faked the signal is now only one
in nearly four million, allowing both collaborations to claim a bona fide
discovery that paves the way to more discoveries.
"I am thrilled that CDF and DZero achieved this goal," said Fermilab
Director Pier Oddone. "The two collaborations have been searching for this
rare process for the last fifteen years, starting before the discovery of
the top quark in 1995. Investigating these subatomic processes in more
detail may open a window onto physics phenomena beyond the Standard
Model."
////////////////////SELFLESS GENES=For example, the gene or genes that make worker ants devote themselves to helping their queen reproduce rather than reproducing themselves might appear altruistic but really these genes are promoting their own survival: helping a close relative is another way of passing on one's own genes. As this example shows, "selfish genes" do not always favour self-centred, uncooperative behaviour, a common misreading of Dawkins's position.
However, the consensus is that evolution never favours what might be called "selfless" genes - that is, adaptations that benefit a group of organisms or the species as a whole. An example would be a gene that restricts how many offspring a predator has, to avoid wiping out its prey. Such a gene should always lose out to selfish genes that maximise reproduction, the thinking goes, even if reproducing without restraint threatens the survival of the whole species.
Increasingly, though, this consensus is being challenged, and on several fronts. The least controversial of these is the notion that entire species themselves can have traits that, over geological time, make them more likely than others to escape extinction and branch off new daughter species. This can lead to evolutionary change that could not be predicted from individual adaptations alone.
///////////////////Solipsism is the philosophical idea that "My mind is the only thing that I know exists." Solipsism is an epistemological or ontological position that knowledge of anything outside the mind is unjustified. The external world and other minds cannot be known and might not exist. In the history of philosophy, solipsism has served as a skeptical hypothesis.
/////////////////What a strange machine man is! You fill him with bread, wine, fish, and radishes, and out comes sighs, laughter, and dreams." - Nikos Kazantzakis
///////////////CD=Saving heart attack patients in the middle of the night (3/9/2009)
Tags:
heart attack
When Joyce Moss recently arrived at Loyola University Hospital with a life-threatening heart attack, it took just 42 minutes to perform an emergency balloon angioplasty.
The procedure opened up an artery that was 100 percent blocked. "There was no damage to the heart because of how quick they were," said Moss, 56, of Berwyn. "I feel good."
To further improve its emergency angioplasty times, Loyola will become the first hospital in Illinois to staff a Heart Attack Rapid Response Team (HARRT) at the hospital 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The HARRT program includes board-certified and highly-experienced interventional cardiologists, nurses and technicians.
Most hospitals do not have such personnel on site during nights and weekends. Thus, precious time is lost when the team has to be called in from home. This is especially true when staffers are delayed by snow storms or other bad weather.
"The HARRT program will provide the next leap of care for patients," said Loyola interventional cardiologist Dr. Fred Leya. Leya is among a team of interventional cardiologists who will rotate night and weekend shifts at the hospital. Leya is medical director of Loyola's cardiac catheterization lab.
Reducing angioplasty times is a coordinated effort that begins with paramedics who take patients to the hospital. There are 51 west suburban fire departments and ambulance companies in the Loyola Emergency Medical Services System. A growing number of ambulances are being equipped so that paramedics can administer 12-lead EKG exams while en route to the hospital. An EKG can confirm a heart attack, and results are radioed ahead to the hospital, said Dr. Mark Cichon, Loyola's director of emergency medical services.
///////////////////A successful man is one who can earn more money than his wife can possibly spend. A successful woman is one who can find that man.
Anonymous
//////////////////////HRZN-GD ON THE BRAIN-TMPRL LB EPLPSY WITH RELIGS HALLUCN
//////////////////..........The first known reference to the game of cricket that we have at
the moment is from a court case in Guildford in Surrey in 1598, in
which a local man swore that as a child, fifty years before, he had
played "creckett" and other games on a disputed piece of land. The
similarity of that word with the one in the poem is intriguing, but
hardly firm evidence of anything.
///////////////////////Action without study is fatal. Study without action is futile."
– Mary Ritter Beard
////////////////////////NABC OF DIVINE REVELATION
?SUPERSTITION AND SOCIAL CONDITIONING
OR JUST LK EAT,SLEEP,SX
schizoactive brain events enriched mental lf
///////////////////RAMACHANDRAN-SX-GD SWEAT TEST -NORMAL VS TLE PTS
//////////////////TMPRL LB FOR RELIGS AND SPRTUAL BLF
//////////////////NEUROTHEOLOGY
////////////////////////1999=This Is Your Brain on God
Michael Persinger has a vision - the Almighty isn't dead, he's an energy field. And your mind is an electromagnetic map to your soul.
By Jack Hitt
Over a scratchy speaker, a researcher announces, "Jack, one of your electrodes is loose, we're coming in." The 500-pound steel door of the experimental chamber opens with a heavy whoosh; two technicians wearing white lab coats march in. They remove the Ping-Pong-ball halves taped over my eyes and carefully lift a yellow motorcycle helmet that's been retrofitted with electromagnetic field-emitting solenoids on the sides, aimed directly at my temples. Above the left hemisphere of my 42-year-old male brain, they locate the dangling electrode, needed to measure and track my brain waves. The researchers slather more conducting cream into the graying wisps of my red hair and press the securing tape hard into my scalp.
After restoring everything to its proper working position, the techies exit, and I'm left sitting inside the utterly silent, utterly black vault. A few commands are typed into a computer outside the chamber, and selected electromagnetic fields begin gently thrumming my brain's temporal lobes. The fields are no more intense than what you'd get as by-product from an ordinary blow-dryer, but what's coming is anything but ordinary. My lobes are about to be bathed with precise wavelength patterns that are supposed to affect my mind in a stunning way, artificially inducing the sensation that I am seeing God.
/////////////////SENSED PRESENCE=So, if the language centers are integrated into the neurological bases of the sense of self, and (the homologous portions) of both sides of the brain are involved in each process, and language is usually on the left, then what's going on in the right side of the brain, in the areas directly opposite the language areas? The best answer so far is the offered by the hypothesis that there is a subordinate sense of self there, one which acts to support the normal sense of self, speech and its understanding. It has contributions to make towards aspects of grammar, and it is essential for the maintenance of the normal range of affective tones. Its contributions to the left-hemisphere-dominated, normal sense of self are referred to as intercalations. The operant metaphor is of a calendar. Brain functions are localized to one side or other. However, every function on the left requires a sub-function from the right, something like a ‘shared' file, to use a computer analogy. The calendar functions perfectly well, but leap years require an intercalary month. Each function in one side requires input from the other. The split brain studies showed us that each hemisphere could manifest an almost independent mind. Vectorial Hemisphericity implies that almost isn't good enough to make a truly human being. The sense of self requires the involvement of structures on both sides. These structures have some of the lowest firing thresholds in the brain, and are thus more likely to mismatch their (metabolic) rates of activity. When this happens, a person will experience a change in their ‘self.'
The human sense of self (in normal states of consciousness) is a vector requiring both sides of the brain, but with greater recruitment of the left temporofrontal and, to a lesser extent, limbic regions.
Because the hypothesis is based on a theory that says that concludes that language is an instance of a broader pattern of neural organization, we are forced to conclude that vectorial hemisphericity is one of the overarching principles behind all brain functions. The area in which this hypothesis has been most extensively tested is in studies related to the sense of self, in one of its more unusual manifestations, the experience of the Sensed Presence.
THE SENSED PRESENCE AND THE SENSE OF SELF
A great deal of our understanding of the sense of self is derived from the understanding of an experience called the sensed presence. In its simplest form, it appears as a feeling that there is someone or some conscious ‘ thing', an energy or a presence in the room with you even though you know you're by yourself. It can also manifest as a feeling that you are ‘not alone' or just ‘being watched.'
Our interpretation of this experience relies on the fact that humans have two senses of self. Left hemispheric and right hemispheric. It also relies on the idea that the dominant sense of self in normal individuals is the left hemispheric (linguistic) sense of self. We experience its dominance in our lives every second as we experience our minds generating a constant stream of inner dialog. The subordinate sense of self, on the right in normal individuals, is active during almost all cognitive processes, but it acts to subserve the linguistic, dominant sense of self. The right hemispheric self and phenomenology are only outside our awareness whenever we are thinking in words, They do not stop. The sensed presence happens when the right hemispheric sense of self falls out of phase with the left hemispheric self. The right ‘self' is experienced as an external presence. Although there are reports of partial OBEs in which a person experiences themselves as being in two places at once, it is much more common for a person to feel that the sensed presence is not themselves at all, but an outside, ego-alien, being. The two hemispheres can act independently, as shown in ‘split brain' studies, giving the person a partitioned awareness. The sensed presence might be likened to a temporary split brain, but limited to its senses of self (Persinger, 1993).
‘The Self' emerges in one neurological context as a characteristic readout on an EEG. It's known as the 40 Hz component, and the reason it is associated with the sense of self is that its not there when we're in dreamless sleep. It there when we are awake, and there when we are dreaming. It's only absent during that time when we are in those stages of sleep that we can't remember. The reason we can't remember it is that ‘we' aren't there during dreamless sleep. The pathways that maintain the sense of self are inactive at this time.
The sensed presence is only one example of a whole class of experiences called visitor experiences, or just visitations (Persinger, 1989). It falls at one end of a spectrum. At the lower end we should expect to find the sensed presence, and at the other, we find a very affective being, such as God or Satan in a fully extrapolated environment, complete with heavenly or hellish sounds, smells, bodily sensations, etc. As the experience deepens in intensity, recruiting more and more brain structures, it can include visions, smells, tastes, vestibular feelings of falling or rising, parasthetic feelings of tingles, ‘buzzes,' or more difficult to describe ‘energies' in the body.
//////////////Never Too Late to Get Active
Middle-aged men who increase their physical activity level may see a survival advantage over the long term, BMJ reports.
Swedish researchers surveyed some 2200 men at age 50 and then followed them for about 35 years, during which four additional interviews were conducted.
Overall, mortality was lowest among the most active men. In adjusted analyses, men who increased their activity level from low/moderate to high between the ages of 50 and 60 saw a drop in mortality after 10 years' follow-up, thereby achieving survival similar to that among men were highly active from the start. (Before 10 years, no survival advantage was observed.)
The long-term benefit of increased activity was on par with that of quitting smoking during the same period.
//////////////////////GD OR HAUNT-EM FIELD INTERFERING WTH BRAIN WVS
///////////////////DAWKINS-PERSINGER EXPT
//////////////TEMPORAL LOBE SENSITIVITY SPECTRUM-0 IN DAWKINS TO MAX IN TLE SUFFERER
////////////////AXLEPIN=The Kingdom Within
Ipse Dixit or Alice
through the Looking-Glass said it
“As we shall see, the concept of time has no meaning before the beginning of the universe. This was first pointed by St. Augustine. When asked: What did God do before he created the universe? Augustine didn’t reply: He was preparing Hell for people who asked such questions. Instead, he said that time was a property of the universe that God created, and that time did not exist before the beginning of the universe.”
Stephen Hawking
--A Brief History of TIme
Descartes came bearing a gift of binary classification that had poor Alice speaking to disparate selves wondering which of these distinct substances have precedence over her existence - the kind that her nothingness redefines, but Aristotle before him held both as one: however subsequent views on dualism followed perhaps stemming from as far back as Pre-Socratics and then Plato’s standpoint expressly between the physical world of appearances and essences.
Science is bridging the gap closer today with the mysterians twiddling sore thumbs, which is why all philosophical conundrums of Alice are actually hypothetical so she reads on finding a veritable juncture for answers to philosophical, religious, psychological, sociological questions and getting acquainted with William McDougall whose idea about the dual-aspect theory maintained both psychological and biological data from spirit and matter universe determining thus the spiritual presumptive of physiological processes. Would that the polymath lived to this day to uphold his “hormic psychology.”
Alice peered once again in the looking-glass and found her hair standing on its end, atop the same mantel-piece and exclaimed “Why, I do declare I am beginning to look like Einstein!”
The Greeks invented philosophy. Alice can only hazard a guess as to why. The letters read backwards so the answer is barely discernible. God made men who invented these time-immemorial and interminable questions that had philosophy branching out to religion, psychology, science and politics, the first three of which has Alice reading more on divergent fields that make sapient learning accessible to her as far as the imagination goes, eschewing only politics because the same imagination goes haywire from lack of insight.
The Greeks invented philosophy so back to Alice hazarding a guess. She very soon came to a fancy that the philosophy of psychology, with Dr. Danah Zohar identifying this instinctive “spiritual intelligence” of man, is evident in the ancient Greeks.
Imagine then if you will in the recesses of the brain is the mysterious region that escaped notice in their time because the philosophy of the mind did not as yet entail the study of the human brain.
A brain researcher of the most recent time, Andrew Neuberg noted the increase activity of the temporal lobes of Franciscan nuns and Buddhist monks who were deep in meditation confirming the earlier studies of Dr. Zohar that identified the particular “god spot” in the region of the brain that oscillates 40 megahertz when man explores the significance of life or deliberates on profound questions that may have had the early Greeks’ high-flying erudition inventing philosophy for want of prolific repository i.e., for profundities.
“Man can’t think on an empty stomach.” Alice retorts combing down her electrified coiffure and finding the book on Greek Mythology in the drawing room through the looking-glass.
Greece while divided into distinct territories had self-sufficient economic life, religion, culture, political system and institutions allowing development of earliest arts and sciences. Ancient Greek mythology had two surviving epic poems of Homer: Iliad and Odyssey, both of which dealt with the legend of mortals and gods based on actual events of Trojan war some four centuries before Homer. The apparent synthesis of both his historical and implausible accounts were traced from the oral narratives of it before written literature began so that embellishments were added to glamorize the heroes of the stories that had the Greeks identifying them as progenitors.
Hesiod, contemporary of Homer wrote Theogony, a “pure myth” which has reference to religion and ritual, cataloguing divine family tree that defined and outlined the early relationships between man and gods: and the religious rituals. This “pure myth” contained Greek accounts of the creation of the world, its colossal gods and mortals. Hesiod’s myth “The Ages of Man” illustrated the unfortunate end of “Golden Age” in Greece; man’s downfall was inevitable with the departure of the gods whose favor he eventually lost by greed and war. The educational motive of this myth was to have served as implicit guidelines intended for the royal audience to cause the return to the ways of the “Golden Age”, the same motive evident in the works of succeeding poets. Ancient Greek philosophers could not abide with the religious implications inferred pedagogy instead with open-ended questions that marked the inception of nascent philosophy. Xenophanes (560-478B.C.) was quoted to have said: “It is naïve to worship the gods because they all behave irrationally and immorally.”
So thus began the trend of thinking from religious to scientific with the questions on reality of ancient Greek philosophers exceeding the temporal, tangible and palpable understanding of it.
There are little known facts about early Greek philosophers except for their propensity for predominantly cerebral pursuits. The rest is history so to speak.
Alice has her hair tied now in ribbons and comfortably settled in the armchair with Kitty on her lap and has began to read another treatise on Abraham Maslow’s theory on hierarchy of man’s needs if she is to understand the trend of thoughts of these ancient Greeks who invented philosophy.
Maslow illustrated these needs in a pyramid of five levels starting with the first four levels of what he calls “deficiency needs” from the bottom up: physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem all leading eventually to what he classifies as “being needs.” His theory asserts the notions that humans pursue higher needs on top of the hierarchy when their basic needs are sufficiently met.
If Alice thinks hard enough, she may as yet be able to solve the riddle how Ancient Greeks evolved to sophisticated thinking individuals with high degree of self awareness, vision and unrelenting pursuit of knowledge, who in turn influenced great thinkers after them.
Alice though is not a thinker, so to aspire for greatness is akin to aspiring for sainthood - both being pipe dreams, hers exclusively.
The efforts put into them is one of her many exercises in futility, she has only a healthy heart to show for it.
The body to achieve homeostasis needs: food, drink, air, adequate sleep and comfortable temperature and when unmet takes absolute priority over higher needs. Alice shudders, remembering Tolstoy’s accounts of the Russian inhumanity in his writing - tumultuous history that regrettably repeats itself in other countries of divergent cultures and origins in all preceding and succeeding generations because men never learns from the lesson of Adam and the story of Goethe’s Faustus.
Was the continuous search for satisfaction of physiological needs of the primitive man an instinctive behavior to ensure survival as it is understood pattern of animals? Was this notion entertained in the mind of Herbert Spencer who coined the phrase “survival of the fittest” which Darwin later employed though they did not specify which specie? Did man evolve from basic physiological needs to seek fulfillment of emotional needs, those contained in Maslow’s succeeding “D” needs? Were selection of similar species grouped instinctively together seeking security in number and in order? Was discrimination apparent then? Were the species paired off first and the union sought eventual convergence in a group after?
If satisfaction of physiological needs of prehistoric man took precedence over emotional needs, would this not somehow replicate the same phase of evolution of animals, difference being man’s ego; and his capacity for introspection and reasoning?
“And humor,” Alice quickly adds.
Humor it is, indeed.
Was this hierarchy of needs evident in Greece where Philosophy had been thought of to have taken roots from Maslow’s “Being Needs” specifically: actualization especially so with his description of it reflecting generally on the ancient Greek philosophers? Were these inadvertent attempts towards self-transcendence repeated in the great thinkers of the succeeding centuries and still evident today? What of the venerable Saints, Martyrs and historical figures?
The study of the Greek mythology brings one to the extraordinary works of the great bard, William Shakespeare whose seemingly masked profundities are cleverly infused in immortal lines of his pulchritudinous plays and sonnets long escaping scrutiny of the monarchy in Tudor London then and literary pundits centuries later. But of course, Alice can only hazard a guess or two again because she has yet to read and understand the turbulent panorama of historical events from the development of Christian society in early England when Druidic religious culture did not preclude its political influence, and to the Elizabethan Age with its religious, cultural, economic and political background surrounding his life and works.
William Shakespeare’s extraordinary skills in the mastery of language are transfused into the creative representations of historical and mythological prodigious events in his plays catapulting the genius to the literary sage he is today, certainly one who has us quoting by heart the enigma of his lines whether they be philosophical, pragmatic or whimsical are all irrefutably phenomenal. Had his genius found him rewriting the earliest Greek literature, the consummate playwright in him would have championed the cause of Prometheus.
Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice “ said “…if you prick us, do we not bleed?If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?”
There was a long pause.
“Is that all?” Alice timidly asked.
“That’s all,” said Humpty Dumpty. “Goodbye”
This was rather sudden, Alice thought: but, after such a very strong hint that she ought to be going, she felt that it would hardly be civil to stay. So she got up, and held out her hand.
“Goodbye, till we meet again!” she said as cheerfully as she could.
“I shouldn’t know you again if we did meet.” Humpty Dumpty replied in a discontented tone, giving her one of his fingers to shake “you’re so exactly like other people.”
“The face is what one goes by, generally.” Alice remarked in a thoughtful tone.
“That’s what I complain of,” said Humpty Dumpty. “Your face is the same as everybody has - the two eyes, so _” (marking their places in the air with his thumb) “nose in the middle, mouth under. It’s always the same. Now if you had the two eyes on the same side of the nose, for instance - or the mouth at the top - that would be some help.”
“It wouldn’t look nice,” Alice objected.
But Humpty Dumpty shut his eyes and said “Wait till you’ve tried.”
“She’s in that state of mind,” said the White Queen, “that she wants to deny something - only she doesn’t know what to deny!”
“Contrariwise,” continues Tweedledee, “if it was so, it would be: but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.”
“Thirst quenched, I hope?” said the Queen.
Excerpts from “Through the Looking-Glass”
By Lewis Carroll
//////////////////////MEDITATN-ONENESS WITH UNIVERSE
//////////////////////////PARITAL LOBE-TIME,PLACE,SELF
MEDITATN REDUCE ACTY IN PARIETAL LOBE
/////////////////SEARCH FOR UNIO MYSTICA
///////////////////////unio mystica (mystical union) between the believer and Jesus,
//////////////////////EVOLN EXPLANTN-BELIEVERS ARE HEALTHIER ,LIVE LONGER-
/////////////////OUR BRNS ARE HARDWIRED FR GD
/////////////////IS IT GDS ANTENNA IN OUR BRN-RAMACHANDRAN
///////////////
—Nigel Slater
///////////////All misery derives from the inability to sit in a quiet room alone.
Posted: 09 Mar 2009 04:00 AM PDT
~ unknown (via Jared Akers)
/////////////////////Everyone loves justice in the affairs of another.
-- Italian Proverb
Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.
-- H. L. Mencken
/////////////////I WRK ,THEREFORE I AM
////////////////
The future is an unknown, but a somewhat predictable unknown. To look to the future we must first look back upon the past. That is where the seeds of the future were planted. I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.
- Albert Einstein, "Interview, 1930"
//////////////////FERMILAB=
Fermilab collider experiments discover rare single top quark
Batavia, Ill.--Scientists of the CDF and DZero collaborations at the
Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have observed
particle collisions that produce single top quarks. The discovery of the
single top confirms important parameters of particle physics, including
the total number of quarks, and has significance for the ongoing search
for the Higgs particle at Fermilab's Tevatron, currently the world's most
powerful operating particle accelerator.
Previously, top quarks had only been observed when produced by the strong
nuclear force. That interaction leads to the production of pairs of top
quarks. The production of single top quarks, which involves the weak
nuclear force and is harder to identify experimentally, has now been
observed, almost 14 years to the day of the top quark discovery in 1995.
Searching for single-top production makes finding a needle in a haystack
look easy. Only one in every 20 billion proton-antiproton collisions
produces a single top quark. Even worse, the signal of these rare
occurrences is easily mimicked by other "background" processes that occur
at much higher rates.
"Observation of the single top quark production is an important milestone
for the Tevatron program," said Dr. Dennis Kovar, Associate Director of
the Office of Science for High Energy Physics at the U.S. Department of
Energy. "Furthermore, the highly sensitive and successful analysis is an
important step in the search for the Higgs."
Discovering the single top quark production presents challenges similar to
the Higgs boson search in the need to extract an extremely small signal
from a very large background. Advanced analysis techniques pioneered for
the single top discovery are now in use for the Higgs boson search. In
addition, the single top and the Higgs signals have backgrounds in common,
and the single top is itself a background for the Higgs particle.
To make the single-top discovery, physicists of the CDF and DZero
collaborations spent years combing independently through the results of
proton-antiproton collisions recorded by their experiments, respectively.
Each team identified several thousand collision events that looked the way
experimenters expect single top events to appear. Sophisticated
statistical analysis and detailed background modeling showed that a few
hundred collision events produced the real thing. On March 4, the two
teams submitted their independent results to Physical Review Letters.
The two collaborations earlier had reported preliminary results on the
search for the single top. Since then, experimenters have more than
doubled the amount of data analyzed and sharpened selection and analysis
techniques, making the discovery possible. For each experiment, the
probability that background events have faked the signal is now only one
in nearly four million, allowing both collaborations to claim a bona fide
discovery that paves the way to more discoveries.
"I am thrilled that CDF and DZero achieved this goal," said Fermilab
Director Pier Oddone. "The two collaborations have been searching for this
rare process for the last fifteen years, starting before the discovery of
the top quark in 1995. Investigating these subatomic processes in more
detail may open a window onto physics phenomena beyond the Standard
Model."
////////////////////SELFLESS GENES=For example, the gene or genes that make worker ants devote themselves to helping their queen reproduce rather than reproducing themselves might appear altruistic but really these genes are promoting their own survival: helping a close relative is another way of passing on one's own genes. As this example shows, "selfish genes" do not always favour self-centred, uncooperative behaviour, a common misreading of Dawkins's position.
However, the consensus is that evolution never favours what might be called "selfless" genes - that is, adaptations that benefit a group of organisms or the species as a whole. An example would be a gene that restricts how many offspring a predator has, to avoid wiping out its prey. Such a gene should always lose out to selfish genes that maximise reproduction, the thinking goes, even if reproducing without restraint threatens the survival of the whole species.
Increasingly, though, this consensus is being challenged, and on several fronts. The least controversial of these is the notion that entire species themselves can have traits that, over geological time, make them more likely than others to escape extinction and branch off new daughter species. This can lead to evolutionary change that could not be predicted from individual adaptations alone.
///////////////////Solipsism is the philosophical idea that "My mind is the only thing that I know exists." Solipsism is an epistemological or ontological position that knowledge of anything outside the mind is unjustified. The external world and other minds cannot be known and might not exist. In the history of philosophy, solipsism has served as a skeptical hypothesis.
/////////////////What a strange machine man is! You fill him with bread, wine, fish, and radishes, and out comes sighs, laughter, and dreams." - Nikos Kazantzakis
///////////////CD=Saving heart attack patients in the middle of the night (3/9/2009)
Tags:
heart attack
When Joyce Moss recently arrived at Loyola University Hospital with a life-threatening heart attack, it took just 42 minutes to perform an emergency balloon angioplasty.
The procedure opened up an artery that was 100 percent blocked. "There was no damage to the heart because of how quick they were," said Moss, 56, of Berwyn. "I feel good."
To further improve its emergency angioplasty times, Loyola will become the first hospital in Illinois to staff a Heart Attack Rapid Response Team (HARRT) at the hospital 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The HARRT program includes board-certified and highly-experienced interventional cardiologists, nurses and technicians.
Most hospitals do not have such personnel on site during nights and weekends. Thus, precious time is lost when the team has to be called in from home. This is especially true when staffers are delayed by snow storms or other bad weather.
"The HARRT program will provide the next leap of care for patients," said Loyola interventional cardiologist Dr. Fred Leya. Leya is among a team of interventional cardiologists who will rotate night and weekend shifts at the hospital. Leya is medical director of Loyola's cardiac catheterization lab.
Reducing angioplasty times is a coordinated effort that begins with paramedics who take patients to the hospital. There are 51 west suburban fire departments and ambulance companies in the Loyola Emergency Medical Services System. A growing number of ambulances are being equipped so that paramedics can administer 12-lead EKG exams while en route to the hospital. An EKG can confirm a heart attack, and results are radioed ahead to the hospital, said Dr. Mark Cichon, Loyola's director of emergency medical services.
///////////////////A successful man is one who can earn more money than his wife can possibly spend. A successful woman is one who can find that man.
Anonymous
//////////////////////HRZN-GD ON THE BRAIN-TMPRL LB EPLPSY WITH RELIGS HALLUCN
//////////////////..........The first known reference to the game of cricket that we have at
the moment is from a court case in Guildford in Surrey in 1598, in
which a local man swore that as a child, fifty years before, he had
played "creckett" and other games on a disputed piece of land. The
similarity of that word with the one in the poem is intriguing, but
hardly firm evidence of anything.
///////////////////////Action without study is fatal. Study without action is futile."
– Mary Ritter Beard
////////////////////////NABC OF DIVINE REVELATION
?SUPERSTITION AND SOCIAL CONDITIONING
OR JUST LK EAT,SLEEP,SX
schizoactive brain events enriched mental lf
///////////////////RAMACHANDRAN-SX-GD SWEAT TEST -NORMAL VS TLE PTS
//////////////////TMPRL LB FOR RELIGS AND SPRTUAL BLF
//////////////////NEUROTHEOLOGY
////////////////////////1999=This Is Your Brain on God
Michael Persinger has a vision - the Almighty isn't dead, he's an energy field. And your mind is an electromagnetic map to your soul.
By Jack Hitt
Over a scratchy speaker, a researcher announces, "Jack, one of your electrodes is loose, we're coming in." The 500-pound steel door of the experimental chamber opens with a heavy whoosh; two technicians wearing white lab coats march in. They remove the Ping-Pong-ball halves taped over my eyes and carefully lift a yellow motorcycle helmet that's been retrofitted with electromagnetic field-emitting solenoids on the sides, aimed directly at my temples. Above the left hemisphere of my 42-year-old male brain, they locate the dangling electrode, needed to measure and track my brain waves. The researchers slather more conducting cream into the graying wisps of my red hair and press the securing tape hard into my scalp.
After restoring everything to its proper working position, the techies exit, and I'm left sitting inside the utterly silent, utterly black vault. A few commands are typed into a computer outside the chamber, and selected electromagnetic fields begin gently thrumming my brain's temporal lobes. The fields are no more intense than what you'd get as by-product from an ordinary blow-dryer, but what's coming is anything but ordinary. My lobes are about to be bathed with precise wavelength patterns that are supposed to affect my mind in a stunning way, artificially inducing the sensation that I am seeing God.
/////////////////SENSED PRESENCE=So, if the language centers are integrated into the neurological bases of the sense of self, and (the homologous portions) of both sides of the brain are involved in each process, and language is usually on the left, then what's going on in the right side of the brain, in the areas directly opposite the language areas? The best answer so far is the offered by the hypothesis that there is a subordinate sense of self there, one which acts to support the normal sense of self, speech and its understanding. It has contributions to make towards aspects of grammar, and it is essential for the maintenance of the normal range of affective tones. Its contributions to the left-hemisphere-dominated, normal sense of self are referred to as intercalations. The operant metaphor is of a calendar. Brain functions are localized to one side or other. However, every function on the left requires a sub-function from the right, something like a ‘shared' file, to use a computer analogy. The calendar functions perfectly well, but leap years require an intercalary month. Each function in one side requires input from the other. The split brain studies showed us that each hemisphere could manifest an almost independent mind. Vectorial Hemisphericity implies that almost isn't good enough to make a truly human being. The sense of self requires the involvement of structures on both sides. These structures have some of the lowest firing thresholds in the brain, and are thus more likely to mismatch their (metabolic) rates of activity. When this happens, a person will experience a change in their ‘self.'
The human sense of self (in normal states of consciousness) is a vector requiring both sides of the brain, but with greater recruitment of the left temporofrontal and, to a lesser extent, limbic regions.
Because the hypothesis is based on a theory that says that concludes that language is an instance of a broader pattern of neural organization, we are forced to conclude that vectorial hemisphericity is one of the overarching principles behind all brain functions. The area in which this hypothesis has been most extensively tested is in studies related to the sense of self, in one of its more unusual manifestations, the experience of the Sensed Presence.
THE SENSED PRESENCE AND THE SENSE OF SELF
A great deal of our understanding of the sense of self is derived from the understanding of an experience called the sensed presence. In its simplest form, it appears as a feeling that there is someone or some conscious ‘ thing', an energy or a presence in the room with you even though you know you're by yourself. It can also manifest as a feeling that you are ‘not alone' or just ‘being watched.'
Our interpretation of this experience relies on the fact that humans have two senses of self. Left hemispheric and right hemispheric. It also relies on the idea that the dominant sense of self in normal individuals is the left hemispheric (linguistic) sense of self. We experience its dominance in our lives every second as we experience our minds generating a constant stream of inner dialog. The subordinate sense of self, on the right in normal individuals, is active during almost all cognitive processes, but it acts to subserve the linguistic, dominant sense of self. The right hemispheric self and phenomenology are only outside our awareness whenever we are thinking in words, They do not stop. The sensed presence happens when the right hemispheric sense of self falls out of phase with the left hemispheric self. The right ‘self' is experienced as an external presence. Although there are reports of partial OBEs in which a person experiences themselves as being in two places at once, it is much more common for a person to feel that the sensed presence is not themselves at all, but an outside, ego-alien, being. The two hemispheres can act independently, as shown in ‘split brain' studies, giving the person a partitioned awareness. The sensed presence might be likened to a temporary split brain, but limited to its senses of self (Persinger, 1993).
‘The Self' emerges in one neurological context as a characteristic readout on an EEG. It's known as the 40 Hz component, and the reason it is associated with the sense of self is that its not there when we're in dreamless sleep. It there when we are awake, and there when we are dreaming. It's only absent during that time when we are in those stages of sleep that we can't remember. The reason we can't remember it is that ‘we' aren't there during dreamless sleep. The pathways that maintain the sense of self are inactive at this time.
The sensed presence is only one example of a whole class of experiences called visitor experiences, or just visitations (Persinger, 1989). It falls at one end of a spectrum. At the lower end we should expect to find the sensed presence, and at the other, we find a very affective being, such as God or Satan in a fully extrapolated environment, complete with heavenly or hellish sounds, smells, bodily sensations, etc. As the experience deepens in intensity, recruiting more and more brain structures, it can include visions, smells, tastes, vestibular feelings of falling or rising, parasthetic feelings of tingles, ‘buzzes,' or more difficult to describe ‘energies' in the body.
//////////////Never Too Late to Get Active
Middle-aged men who increase their physical activity level may see a survival advantage over the long term, BMJ reports.
Swedish researchers surveyed some 2200 men at age 50 and then followed them for about 35 years, during which four additional interviews were conducted.
Overall, mortality was lowest among the most active men. In adjusted analyses, men who increased their activity level from low/moderate to high between the ages of 50 and 60 saw a drop in mortality after 10 years' follow-up, thereby achieving survival similar to that among men were highly active from the start. (Before 10 years, no survival advantage was observed.)
The long-term benefit of increased activity was on par with that of quitting smoking during the same period.
//////////////////////GD OR HAUNT-EM FIELD INTERFERING WTH BRAIN WVS
///////////////////DAWKINS-PERSINGER EXPT
//////////////TEMPORAL LOBE SENSITIVITY SPECTRUM-0 IN DAWKINS TO MAX IN TLE SUFFERER
////////////////AXLEPIN=The Kingdom Within
Ipse Dixit or Alice
through the Looking-Glass said it
“As we shall see, the concept of time has no meaning before the beginning of the universe. This was first pointed by St. Augustine. When asked: What did God do before he created the universe? Augustine didn’t reply: He was preparing Hell for people who asked such questions. Instead, he said that time was a property of the universe that God created, and that time did not exist before the beginning of the universe.”
Stephen Hawking
--A Brief History of TIme
Descartes came bearing a gift of binary classification that had poor Alice speaking to disparate selves wondering which of these distinct substances have precedence over her existence - the kind that her nothingness redefines, but Aristotle before him held both as one: however subsequent views on dualism followed perhaps stemming from as far back as Pre-Socratics and then Plato’s standpoint expressly between the physical world of appearances and essences.
Science is bridging the gap closer today with the mysterians twiddling sore thumbs, which is why all philosophical conundrums of Alice are actually hypothetical so she reads on finding a veritable juncture for answers to philosophical, religious, psychological, sociological questions and getting acquainted with William McDougall whose idea about the dual-aspect theory maintained both psychological and biological data from spirit and matter universe determining thus the spiritual presumptive of physiological processes. Would that the polymath lived to this day to uphold his “hormic psychology.”
Alice peered once again in the looking-glass and found her hair standing on its end, atop the same mantel-piece and exclaimed “Why, I do declare I am beginning to look like Einstein!”
The Greeks invented philosophy. Alice can only hazard a guess as to why. The letters read backwards so the answer is barely discernible. God made men who invented these time-immemorial and interminable questions that had philosophy branching out to religion, psychology, science and politics, the first three of which has Alice reading more on divergent fields that make sapient learning accessible to her as far as the imagination goes, eschewing only politics because the same imagination goes haywire from lack of insight.
The Greeks invented philosophy so back to Alice hazarding a guess. She very soon came to a fancy that the philosophy of psychology, with Dr. Danah Zohar identifying this instinctive “spiritual intelligence” of man, is evident in the ancient Greeks.
Imagine then if you will in the recesses of the brain is the mysterious region that escaped notice in their time because the philosophy of the mind did not as yet entail the study of the human brain.
A brain researcher of the most recent time, Andrew Neuberg noted the increase activity of the temporal lobes of Franciscan nuns and Buddhist monks who were deep in meditation confirming the earlier studies of Dr. Zohar that identified the particular “god spot” in the region of the brain that oscillates 40 megahertz when man explores the significance of life or deliberates on profound questions that may have had the early Greeks’ high-flying erudition inventing philosophy for want of prolific repository i.e., for profundities.
“Man can’t think on an empty stomach.” Alice retorts combing down her electrified coiffure and finding the book on Greek Mythology in the drawing room through the looking-glass.
Greece while divided into distinct territories had self-sufficient economic life, religion, culture, political system and institutions allowing development of earliest arts and sciences. Ancient Greek mythology had two surviving epic poems of Homer: Iliad and Odyssey, both of which dealt with the legend of mortals and gods based on actual events of Trojan war some four centuries before Homer. The apparent synthesis of both his historical and implausible accounts were traced from the oral narratives of it before written literature began so that embellishments were added to glamorize the heroes of the stories that had the Greeks identifying them as progenitors.
Hesiod, contemporary of Homer wrote Theogony, a “pure myth” which has reference to religion and ritual, cataloguing divine family tree that defined and outlined the early relationships between man and gods: and the religious rituals. This “pure myth” contained Greek accounts of the creation of the world, its colossal gods and mortals. Hesiod’s myth “The Ages of Man” illustrated the unfortunate end of “Golden Age” in Greece; man’s downfall was inevitable with the departure of the gods whose favor he eventually lost by greed and war. The educational motive of this myth was to have served as implicit guidelines intended for the royal audience to cause the return to the ways of the “Golden Age”, the same motive evident in the works of succeeding poets. Ancient Greek philosophers could not abide with the religious implications inferred pedagogy instead with open-ended questions that marked the inception of nascent philosophy. Xenophanes (560-478B.C.) was quoted to have said: “It is naïve to worship the gods because they all behave irrationally and immorally.”
So thus began the trend of thinking from religious to scientific with the questions on reality of ancient Greek philosophers exceeding the temporal, tangible and palpable understanding of it.
There are little known facts about early Greek philosophers except for their propensity for predominantly cerebral pursuits. The rest is history so to speak.
Alice has her hair tied now in ribbons and comfortably settled in the armchair with Kitty on her lap and has began to read another treatise on Abraham Maslow’s theory on hierarchy of man’s needs if she is to understand the trend of thoughts of these ancient Greeks who invented philosophy.
Maslow illustrated these needs in a pyramid of five levels starting with the first four levels of what he calls “deficiency needs” from the bottom up: physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem all leading eventually to what he classifies as “being needs.” His theory asserts the notions that humans pursue higher needs on top of the hierarchy when their basic needs are sufficiently met.
If Alice thinks hard enough, she may as yet be able to solve the riddle how Ancient Greeks evolved to sophisticated thinking individuals with high degree of self awareness, vision and unrelenting pursuit of knowledge, who in turn influenced great thinkers after them.
Alice though is not a thinker, so to aspire for greatness is akin to aspiring for sainthood - both being pipe dreams, hers exclusively.
The efforts put into them is one of her many exercises in futility, she has only a healthy heart to show for it.
The body to achieve homeostasis needs: food, drink, air, adequate sleep and comfortable temperature and when unmet takes absolute priority over higher needs. Alice shudders, remembering Tolstoy’s accounts of the Russian inhumanity in his writing - tumultuous history that regrettably repeats itself in other countries of divergent cultures and origins in all preceding and succeeding generations because men never learns from the lesson of Adam and the story of Goethe’s Faustus.
Was the continuous search for satisfaction of physiological needs of the primitive man an instinctive behavior to ensure survival as it is understood pattern of animals? Was this notion entertained in the mind of Herbert Spencer who coined the phrase “survival of the fittest” which Darwin later employed though they did not specify which specie? Did man evolve from basic physiological needs to seek fulfillment of emotional needs, those contained in Maslow’s succeeding “D” needs? Were selection of similar species grouped instinctively together seeking security in number and in order? Was discrimination apparent then? Were the species paired off first and the union sought eventual convergence in a group after?
If satisfaction of physiological needs of prehistoric man took precedence over emotional needs, would this not somehow replicate the same phase of evolution of animals, difference being man’s ego; and his capacity for introspection and reasoning?
“And humor,” Alice quickly adds.
Humor it is, indeed.
Was this hierarchy of needs evident in Greece where Philosophy had been thought of to have taken roots from Maslow’s “Being Needs” specifically: actualization especially so with his description of it reflecting generally on the ancient Greek philosophers? Were these inadvertent attempts towards self-transcendence repeated in the great thinkers of the succeeding centuries and still evident today? What of the venerable Saints, Martyrs and historical figures?
The study of the Greek mythology brings one to the extraordinary works of the great bard, William Shakespeare whose seemingly masked profundities are cleverly infused in immortal lines of his pulchritudinous plays and sonnets long escaping scrutiny of the monarchy in Tudor London then and literary pundits centuries later. But of course, Alice can only hazard a guess or two again because she has yet to read and understand the turbulent panorama of historical events from the development of Christian society in early England when Druidic religious culture did not preclude its political influence, and to the Elizabethan Age with its religious, cultural, economic and political background surrounding his life and works.
William Shakespeare’s extraordinary skills in the mastery of language are transfused into the creative representations of historical and mythological prodigious events in his plays catapulting the genius to the literary sage he is today, certainly one who has us quoting by heart the enigma of his lines whether they be philosophical, pragmatic or whimsical are all irrefutably phenomenal. Had his genius found him rewriting the earliest Greek literature, the consummate playwright in him would have championed the cause of Prometheus.
Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice “ said “…if you prick us, do we not bleed?If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?”
There was a long pause.
“Is that all?” Alice timidly asked.
“That’s all,” said Humpty Dumpty. “Goodbye”
This was rather sudden, Alice thought: but, after such a very strong hint that she ought to be going, she felt that it would hardly be civil to stay. So she got up, and held out her hand.
“Goodbye, till we meet again!” she said as cheerfully as she could.
“I shouldn’t know you again if we did meet.” Humpty Dumpty replied in a discontented tone, giving her one of his fingers to shake “you’re so exactly like other people.”
“The face is what one goes by, generally.” Alice remarked in a thoughtful tone.
“That’s what I complain of,” said Humpty Dumpty. “Your face is the same as everybody has - the two eyes, so _” (marking their places in the air with his thumb) “nose in the middle, mouth under. It’s always the same. Now if you had the two eyes on the same side of the nose, for instance - or the mouth at the top - that would be some help.”
“It wouldn’t look nice,” Alice objected.
But Humpty Dumpty shut his eyes and said “Wait till you’ve tried.”
“She’s in that state of mind,” said the White Queen, “that she wants to deny something - only she doesn’t know what to deny!”
“Contrariwise,” continues Tweedledee, “if it was so, it would be: but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.”
“Thirst quenched, I hope?” said the Queen.
Excerpts from “Through the Looking-Glass”
By Lewis Carroll
//////////////////////MEDITATN-ONENESS WITH UNIVERSE
//////////////////////////PARITAL LOBE-TIME,PLACE,SELF
MEDITATN REDUCE ACTY IN PARIETAL LOBE
/////////////////SEARCH FOR UNIO MYSTICA
///////////////////////unio mystica (mystical union) between the believer and Jesus,
//////////////////////EVOLN EXPLANTN-BELIEVERS ARE HEALTHIER ,LIVE LONGER-
/////////////////OUR BRNS ARE HARDWIRED FR GD
/////////////////IS IT GDS ANTENNA IN OUR BRN-RAMACHANDRAN
///////////////
Sunday, 8 March 2009
ADAM-ACHHE DUKKHO ACHHE MRITYU
/////////////Sweat is the cologne of accomplishment.
—Heywood Hale Broun
//////////////////
If life were just, we would be born old and achieve youth about the time we'd saved enough to enjoy it.
Jim Fiebig
//////////////////
It isn't what you have, or who you are,
or where you are, or what you are doing
that makes you happy or unhappy.
It is what you think about.
Dale Carnegie
//////////////////////
A man is as old as he feels himself to be.
-- English Proverb
How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?
-- Satchell Paige ###
/////////////////////NEW VILLAINS-BANKSTERS
/////////////////////Mistakes are almost always of a sacred nature. Never try to correct them. On the contrary: rationalize them, understand them thoroughly. After that, it will be possible for you to sublimate them."
-- Salvador Dali
////////////////////////KOLIKATA VIA BYPASS
///////////////////////////
—Heywood Hale Broun
//////////////////
If life were just, we would be born old and achieve youth about the time we'd saved enough to enjoy it.
Jim Fiebig
//////////////////
It isn't what you have, or who you are,
or where you are, or what you are doing
that makes you happy or unhappy.
It is what you think about.
Dale Carnegie
//////////////////////
A man is as old as he feels himself to be.
-- English Proverb
How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?
-- Satchell Paige ###
/////////////////////NEW VILLAINS-BANKSTERS
/////////////////////Mistakes are almost always of a sacred nature. Never try to correct them. On the contrary: rationalize them, understand them thoroughly. After that, it will be possible for you to sublimate them."
-- Salvador Dali
////////////////////////KOLIKATA VIA BYPASS
///////////////////////////
Thursday, 5 March 2009
CDS DTR GOING 140 ON VRBL RSNNG-10 SEC NN LP
/////////////////////////
Unemployment More Likely Among Cancer Survivors
/////////////////Peanut Flour May Ease Peanut Allergy
Researchers report promising results from an early study suggesting small amounts of peanut flour daily may ease peanut intolerance, but they warn against trying their technique at home.
WebMD Health News 2009
///////////////////////Dishevel (verb)
Pronunciation: [di-'shev-êl]
Definition: To disorder or tousle, especially hair or clothing.
Usage: This is one of those negated words without a positive correlate, e.g. "disgruntled," "unkempt," "nonchalant." If I am disheveled and tidy up, why am I not then "sheveled?" (Do kempt people make you gruntled or chalant?) In current American usage, "dishevel" takes the endings -ing and -ed without any changes to the stem; in British usage, the "l" is doubled: "dishevelled," "dishevelling."
///////////////////////////My old Dutch
Meaning
An affectionate term for wife.
//////////////////Six out of ten people worldwide use
mobile phones
KurzweilAI.net Mar. 3, 2009
*************************
About 60 percent of the world's
population now uses mobile phones,
with approximately 4.1 billion
mobile-phone subscriptions annually,
according to a report just released
by the International
Telecommunications Union -- an
increase from about one billion
users in 2002. "There has been a
clear shift from fixed to mobile
cellular telephony,...
/////////////////"Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him."
– Aldous Huxley
//////////////////The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
Posted: 05 Mar 2009 03:00 AM PST
~ Martin Luther King Jr
///////////////////Rotavirus gastroenteritis places high demands on European health care systems, accounting for 56.2% of hospitalizations and 32.8% of emergency department visits because of community-acquired acute gastroenteritis in children aged <5 years. Most community-acquired rotavirus gastroenteritis occurs in children aged <2 years, and a high proportion occurs in infants aged <6 months. Cases were also observed among very young infants <2 months of age. Rotavirus vaccination is expected to have a major impact in reducing morbidity and the pressure on hospital services in Europe.
////////////////////////The overall incidence of Kawasaki disease was 69 in 100000 children <5 years of age between 2003 and 2006 in Taiwan, comparable with the incidence of 66 in 100000 children between 1996 and 2002. Taiwan has the third highest incidence of Kawasaki disease in the world, after Japan and Korea. In Taiwan, it occurs more frequently during the summer.
/////////////////This study shows that breastfeeding reduced the risk of sudden infant death syndrome by ~50% at all ages throughout infancy. We recommend including the advice to breastfeed through 6 months of age in sudden infant death syndrome risk-reduction messages.
///////////////////////////. Infantile hemangiomas are associated with the development of retinopathy of prematurity in infants weighing ≤1250 g. The biological significance of this association may yield clues to the management of retinopathy of prematurity.
//////////////////////Studying Stuttering
March 4, 2009 | Cornelius W. Van Niel, MD
In a prospective community-based study, the cumulative incidence of stuttering at age 3 years was 8.5%.
////////////////Assiduous (adjective)
Pronunciation: [ê-'sid-ju-wês]
Definition: Persistently diligent and attentive at some activity; ardent.
Usage: This word implies a stronger application of oneself to a job or task than does "diligent." It might also imply applying oneself overdiligently. "John was assiduous in pleasing his mother-in-law." The adverb, "assiduously," is probably used more than the adjective. The noun is "assiduity."
//////////////////////////Charles Moore, a ship captain, discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- a floating island of plastic trash that's twice the size of Texas. He tours us through this shocking site, details its effects on wildlife and water, and talks about what we can do to at least keep the Garbage Patch from growing.
/////////////////Contemn (verb)
Pronunciation: [kên-'tem]
Definition: To view with contempt; despise.
Usage: An endangered verb used far less widely than the noun, contempt, derived from it.
Suggested Usage: Give "hate" and "despise" a rest and try "I contemn everything he stands for," carefully articulating the "t". "Mary contemns the way her neighbors reduplicate her garden in theirs."
Etymology: Borrowed from Middle French contempner "despise", from Latin contemnere "to despise": com- + tem(p)nere.
////////////////////THRILLER-JACKSON -BEST SELLING ALBUM OF ALL TIME
////////////////////////
Unemployment More Likely Among Cancer Survivors
/////////////////Peanut Flour May Ease Peanut Allergy
Researchers report promising results from an early study suggesting small amounts of peanut flour daily may ease peanut intolerance, but they warn against trying their technique at home.
WebMD Health News 2009
///////////////////////Dishevel (verb)
Pronunciation: [di-'shev-êl]
Definition: To disorder or tousle, especially hair or clothing.
Usage: This is one of those negated words without a positive correlate, e.g. "disgruntled," "unkempt," "nonchalant." If I am disheveled and tidy up, why am I not then "sheveled?" (Do kempt people make you gruntled or chalant?) In current American usage, "dishevel" takes the endings -ing and -ed without any changes to the stem; in British usage, the "l" is doubled: "dishevelled," "dishevelling."
///////////////////////////My old Dutch
Meaning
An affectionate term for wife.
//////////////////Six out of ten people worldwide use
mobile phones
KurzweilAI.net Mar. 3, 2009
*************************
About 60 percent of the world's
population now uses mobile phones,
with approximately 4.1 billion
mobile-phone subscriptions annually,
according to a report just released
by the International
Telecommunications Union -- an
increase from about one billion
users in 2002. "There has been a
clear shift from fixed to mobile
cellular telephony,...
/////////////////"Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him."
– Aldous Huxley
//////////////////The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
Posted: 05 Mar 2009 03:00 AM PST
~ Martin Luther King Jr
///////////////////Rotavirus gastroenteritis places high demands on European health care systems, accounting for 56.2% of hospitalizations and 32.8% of emergency department visits because of community-acquired acute gastroenteritis in children aged <5 years. Most community-acquired rotavirus gastroenteritis occurs in children aged <2 years, and a high proportion occurs in infants aged <6 months. Cases were also observed among very young infants <2 months of age. Rotavirus vaccination is expected to have a major impact in reducing morbidity and the pressure on hospital services in Europe.
////////////////////////The overall incidence of Kawasaki disease was 69 in 100000 children <5 years of age between 2003 and 2006 in Taiwan, comparable with the incidence of 66 in 100000 children between 1996 and 2002. Taiwan has the third highest incidence of Kawasaki disease in the world, after Japan and Korea. In Taiwan, it occurs more frequently during the summer.
/////////////////This study shows that breastfeeding reduced the risk of sudden infant death syndrome by ~50% at all ages throughout infancy. We recommend including the advice to breastfeed through 6 months of age in sudden infant death syndrome risk-reduction messages.
///////////////////////////. Infantile hemangiomas are associated with the development of retinopathy of prematurity in infants weighing ≤1250 g. The biological significance of this association may yield clues to the management of retinopathy of prematurity.
//////////////////////Studying Stuttering
March 4, 2009 | Cornelius W. Van Niel, MD
In a prospective community-based study, the cumulative incidence of stuttering at age 3 years was 8.5%.
////////////////Assiduous (adjective)
Pronunciation: [ê-'sid-ju-wês]
Definition: Persistently diligent and attentive at some activity; ardent.
Usage: This word implies a stronger application of oneself to a job or task than does "diligent." It might also imply applying oneself overdiligently. "John was assiduous in pleasing his mother-in-law." The adverb, "assiduously," is probably used more than the adjective. The noun is "assiduity."
//////////////////////////Charles Moore, a ship captain, discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- a floating island of plastic trash that's twice the size of Texas. He tours us through this shocking site, details its effects on wildlife and water, and talks about what we can do to at least keep the Garbage Patch from growing.
/////////////////Contemn (verb)
Pronunciation: [kên-'tem]
Definition: To view with contempt; despise.
Usage: An endangered verb used far less widely than the noun, contempt, derived from it.
Suggested Usage: Give "hate" and "despise" a rest and try "I contemn everything he stands for," carefully articulating the "t". "Mary contemns the way her neighbors reduplicate her garden in theirs."
Etymology: Borrowed from Middle French contempner "despise", from Latin contemnere "to despise": com- + tem(p)nere.
////////////////////THRILLER-JACKSON -BEST SELLING ALBUM OF ALL TIME
////////////////////////
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
CAMUS-EXISTENCE PRECEDES ESSENCE
EXISTENTIALISM
/////////////For instance, feeling kinship with our relatives is undoubtedly an adaptive trait that was selected for in our evolutionary past, but it can also be turned into tribalism that leads to wars and conflicts that are clearly non-adaptive and unhealthy.
How are conflicts and wars non-adaptive and unhealthy, as far as natural selection is concerned? In animals, conflicts over mating rights is clearly adaptive and healthy for the species. Territorial disputes are also adaptive and healthy for the species.
Maybe in humans, one could argue, wars kill so indiscriminately that it has the chance to kill off highly "fit" individuals, but the "fittest" are the ones who survive the battle.
Posted by: wank | March 4, 2009 9:02 AM
/////////////////////
/////////////For instance, feeling kinship with our relatives is undoubtedly an adaptive trait that was selected for in our evolutionary past, but it can also be turned into tribalism that leads to wars and conflicts that are clearly non-adaptive and unhealthy.
How are conflicts and wars non-adaptive and unhealthy, as far as natural selection is concerned? In animals, conflicts over mating rights is clearly adaptive and healthy for the species. Territorial disputes are also adaptive and healthy for the species.
Maybe in humans, one could argue, wars kill so indiscriminately that it has the chance to kill off highly "fit" individuals, but the "fittest" are the ones who survive the battle.
Posted by: wank | March 4, 2009 9:02 AM
/////////////////////
CDS 040309-PHOS KORTE CHHEDO NA
//////////////Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal.
—attributed to Arthur Schopenhauer
//////////////Low-Income Countries Bear Biggest Burden of Stroke
A new analysis of global surveillance data shows that rates of stroke mortality and burden vary between countries, but lower-income countries appear to be most affected.
Medscape Medical News 2009
//////////////////////////////Study: Sodium, potassium ratio affects heart health
A team of researchers has found that consuming twice as much potassium as sodium may halve a person's risk of dying from cardiovascular disease
///////////////////The Northwestern researchers measured brainstem processing of three acoustic correlates (pitch, timing and timbre) in musicians and non-musicians to a scientifically validated emotion sound. The musicians, who learn to use all their senses to practice and perform a musical piece, were found to have "finely tuned" auditory systems.
This fine-tuning appears to lend broad perceptual advantages to musicians. "Previous research has indicated that musicians demonstrate greater sensitivity to the nuances of emotion in speech," says Ashley, who explores the link between emotion perception and musical experience. One of his recent studies indicated that musicians might even be able to sense emotion in sounds after hearing them for only 50 milliseconds.
/////////////////////////The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.
Posted: 04 Mar 2009 03:00 AM PST
~ Oprah winfrey
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////Statins Lower Stroke Severity, Improve Recovery (March 4, 2009) -- Researchers have shown that patients who were taking statins before a stroke experienced better outcomes and recovery than patients who weren't on the drug -- even when their cholesterol levels were ideal. ... > full storyStatins Lower Stroke Severity, Improve Recovery (March 4, 2009) -- Researchers have shown that patients who were taking statins before a stroke experienced better outcomes and recovery than patients who weren't on the drug -- even when their cholesterol levels were ideal. ... > full story
//////////////////////////////////Causes Of Rheumatic Heart Disease Discovered
ScienceDaily (Mar. 2, 2009) — Each year, around 15 million children fall ill with rheumatic heart disease worldwide; half a million of them die as a consequence. At the beginning of the medical cases of these children stands a simple throat infection with streptococcus – spherical bacteria responsible for causing a range of different infections. However, it is only certain streptococcal strains that trigger a whole chain of reactions in the body that culminates in the life-threatening rheumatic heart disease. These bacteria carry a special protein sequence, the so-called PARF motif, on their surface.
Singh Chhatwal and his colleague Patric Nitsche-Schmitz of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig illustrate the role played by PARF in the development of rheumatic heart disease. With this knowledge they are developing a test system that is able to recognise and prevent the disease at an early stage.
"PARF means 'peptide associated with rheumatic fever'," explains Nitsche-Schmitz. "It is a small section from a bacterial surface protein , which is used by the streptococcus to adhere to our cells and cause disease." Rheumatic fever develops from harmless sore throats amongst children in India, Australia and Africa in particular. The reason: inadequate medical treatment.
///////Rh F-parf
//////////////TV Viewing Before The Age Of 2 Has No Cognitive Benefit, Study Finds (March 2, 2009) -- In the first longitudinal study of its kind, researchers show that TV viewing before the age of two does not improve a child's language and visual motor skills. The findings suggest that maternal, child and household characteristics are more influential in a child's brain development. ... > full story
/////////////////////////////
///////////////////CAMUSCAMUS
—attributed to Arthur Schopenhauer
//////////////Low-Income Countries Bear Biggest Burden of Stroke
A new analysis of global surveillance data shows that rates of stroke mortality and burden vary between countries, but lower-income countries appear to be most affected.
Medscape Medical News 2009
//////////////////////////////Study: Sodium, potassium ratio affects heart health
A team of researchers has found that consuming twice as much potassium as sodium may halve a person's risk of dying from cardiovascular disease
///////////////////The Northwestern researchers measured brainstem processing of three acoustic correlates (pitch, timing and timbre) in musicians and non-musicians to a scientifically validated emotion sound. The musicians, who learn to use all their senses to practice and perform a musical piece, were found to have "finely tuned" auditory systems.
This fine-tuning appears to lend broad perceptual advantages to musicians. "Previous research has indicated that musicians demonstrate greater sensitivity to the nuances of emotion in speech," says Ashley, who explores the link between emotion perception and musical experience. One of his recent studies indicated that musicians might even be able to sense emotion in sounds after hearing them for only 50 milliseconds.
/////////////////////////The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.
Posted: 04 Mar 2009 03:00 AM PST
~ Oprah winfrey
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////Statins Lower Stroke Severity, Improve Recovery (March 4, 2009) -- Researchers have shown that patients who were taking statins before a stroke experienced better outcomes and recovery than patients who weren't on the drug -- even when their cholesterol levels were ideal. ... > full storyStatins Lower Stroke Severity, Improve Recovery (March 4, 2009) -- Researchers have shown that patients who were taking statins before a stroke experienced better outcomes and recovery than patients who weren't on the drug -- even when their cholesterol levels were ideal. ... > full story
//////////////////////////////////Causes Of Rheumatic Heart Disease Discovered
ScienceDaily (Mar. 2, 2009) — Each year, around 15 million children fall ill with rheumatic heart disease worldwide; half a million of them die as a consequence. At the beginning of the medical cases of these children stands a simple throat infection with streptococcus – spherical bacteria responsible for causing a range of different infections. However, it is only certain streptococcal strains that trigger a whole chain of reactions in the body that culminates in the life-threatening rheumatic heart disease. These bacteria carry a special protein sequence, the so-called PARF motif, on their surface.
Singh Chhatwal and his colleague Patric Nitsche-Schmitz of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig illustrate the role played by PARF in the development of rheumatic heart disease. With this knowledge they are developing a test system that is able to recognise and prevent the disease at an early stage.
"PARF means 'peptide associated with rheumatic fever'," explains Nitsche-Schmitz. "It is a small section from a bacterial surface protein , which is used by the streptococcus to adhere to our cells and cause disease." Rheumatic fever develops from harmless sore throats amongst children in India, Australia and Africa in particular. The reason: inadequate medical treatment.
///////Rh F-parf
//////////////TV Viewing Before The Age Of 2 Has No Cognitive Benefit, Study Finds (March 2, 2009) -- In the first longitudinal study of its kind, researchers show that TV viewing before the age of two does not improve a child's language and visual motor skills. The findings suggest that maternal, child and household characteristics are more influential in a child's brain development. ... > full story
/////////////////////////////
///////////////////CAMUSCAMUS
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
SWEET SLUMBER
"A few hours? mountain climbing turns a rogue and a saint into two
roughly equal creatures. Weariness is the shortest path to equality
and fraternity ? and liberty is finally added by sleep." (Nietzsche)
/////////////////////Watching, Knowing, and Wheezing: Television and Child Health
Watching television in infancy has no apparent effect on short-term cognitive development, but it is associated with childhood asthma, according to two studies.
The first, published in Pediatrics, measured TV viewing in some 900 children from 6 months to 2 years of age. At age 3, the children underwent cognitive testing, and the researchers found TV "neither beneficial nor deleterious" to their performance.
Researchers in the second study, released online by Thorax, examined the viewing habits of some 3100 children at age 3.5 years (none of the children had wheezing then). TV viewing was used as a proxy for sedentary behavior. By follow-up at age 11.5, children who watched more than 2 hours per day were almost twice as likely as those watching 1 to 2 hours to have been diagnosed with asthma.
[Editor's note: Although Thorax has released this article from embargo, it has not posted the article on its website. Rather than delay coverage while awaiting that posting, we have provided a link to Thorax's early-release page, where the article will eventually appear.]
Pediatrics article (Free)
Thorax early-release page (Free)
///////////////Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you're going to do now and do it."
– William C. Durant
/////////////////Countenance (verb)
Pronunciation: ['kæwn-tê-nêns]
Definition: Tolerate; sanction (positively), put up with, favor.
Usage: It is odd that the verb "countenance" means "tolerate" while the noun means "expression on the face." However, at one time "to keep one's countenance" meant to remain normal or neutral in behavior, not to show any emotional response. So both terms originally referred to the control of behavior (as expressed by the face), then the verb's meaning developed into remaining neutral and from there, by a short hop, to showing toleration or favor. Even the noun "countenance" when used alone implies a positive expression on the face. There is a negative verb, discountenance "to disfavor, not tolerate."
////////////////The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed.
~Nicolas Chamfort~
////////////////////////IND NOT SHNING
//////////////SASIA RAPIDLY BCOMING TOMALIA
/////////////////
"I can move into calmness and peace simply by being aware of my breath."
////////////////In everyday language, people sometimes say that immoral behaviours "leave a bad taste in your mouth". But this may be more than a metaphor according to new scientific evidence from the University of Toronto that shows a link between moral disgust and more primitive forms of disgust related to poison and disease.
"Morality is often pointed to as the pinnacle of human evolution and development," says lead author Hanah Chapman, a graduate student in the Department of Psychology. "However, disgust is an ancient and rather primitive emotion which played a key evolutionary role in survival. Our research shows the involvement of disgust in morality, suggesting that moral judgment may depend as much on simple emotional processes as on complex thought." The research is being published in Science on February 27, 2009.
In the study, the scientists examined facial movements when participants tasted unpleasant liquids and looked at photographs of disgusting objects such as dirty toilets or injuries. They compared these to their facial movements when they were subjected to unfair treatment in a laboratory game. The U of T team found that people make similar facial movements in response to both primitive forms of disgust and moral disgust.
The research employed electromyography, a technique that uses small electrodes placed on the face to detect electrical activation that occurs when the facial muscles contract. In particular, they focused on movement of the levator labii muscle, which acts to raise the upper lip and wrinkle the nose, movements that are thought to be characteristic of the facial expression of disgust.
////////////////////////////////"Confidence is a resolute state of mind by which you believe nothing is impossible." ~ Dr. John Eliot from Overachievement
///////////////////Entropy (noun)
Pronunciation: ['en-trê-pi]
Definition: (1) The measure of energy unavailable for work in a closed system, generally taken to be the degree of systemic disorder; (2) the tendency for all matter and energy in the universe to degenerate and become inert, inactive; (3) the steady deterioration of any system.
Usage: The adjective for today's word is "entropic" and the adverb, "entropically." "Entropy" is a lack of energy while "apathy" is a lack of interest—mental entropy, if you will. Today's word is used mostly by scientists, especially physicists, who assign it very specific meanings. However, its basic sense is a loss of energy which leads to dissipation, degeneration or that state itself.
////////////////It's Square Root Day!
by rvannoorden
Posted on behalf of Roberta Kwok
Pop the champagne, everyone: Today is March 3, 2009 (or 3/3/09), and that means that some math-related partying is in order.
If you're tempted to suppress your inner geek, just remember that Square Root Day only happens nine times a century. The last one was Feb. 2, 2004, and the next one won't be until April 4, 2016.
"These days are like calendar comets," says Ron Gordon, a teacher in Redwood City, California [AP]. "You wait and wait and wait for them, then they brighten up your day - and poof - they're gone."
/////////////////The world’s oldest brain
by dcressey
The oldest brain ever found was officially unveiled this week, in the journal PNAS.
Researchers at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility were using X-rays to image the inside of an ancient fish skull fossil when they discovered what they call “a strikingly brain-shaped structure” (press release, research paper - link live soon). They suggest the 300 million year old brain of the iniopterygian fish was mineralised due to microbes.
//////////////PLACK=The world’s oldest brain
by dcressey
The oldest brain ever found was officially unveiled this week, in the journal PNAS.
Researchers at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility were using X-rays to image the inside of an ancient fish skull fossil when they discovered what they call “a strikingly brain-shaped structure” (press release, research paper - link live soon). They suggest the 300 million year old brain of the iniopterygian fish was mineralised due to microbes.
////////////
roughly equal creatures. Weariness is the shortest path to equality
and fraternity ? and liberty is finally added by sleep." (Nietzsche)
/////////////////////Watching, Knowing, and Wheezing: Television and Child Health
Watching television in infancy has no apparent effect on short-term cognitive development, but it is associated with childhood asthma, according to two studies.
The first, published in Pediatrics, measured TV viewing in some 900 children from 6 months to 2 years of age. At age 3, the children underwent cognitive testing, and the researchers found TV "neither beneficial nor deleterious" to their performance.
Researchers in the second study, released online by Thorax, examined the viewing habits of some 3100 children at age 3.5 years (none of the children had wheezing then). TV viewing was used as a proxy for sedentary behavior. By follow-up at age 11.5, children who watched more than 2 hours per day were almost twice as likely as those watching 1 to 2 hours to have been diagnosed with asthma.
[Editor's note: Although Thorax has released this article from embargo, it has not posted the article on its website. Rather than delay coverage while awaiting that posting, we have provided a link to Thorax's early-release page, where the article will eventually appear.]
Pediatrics article (Free)
Thorax early-release page (Free)
///////////////Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you're going to do now and do it."
– William C. Durant
/////////////////Countenance (verb)
Pronunciation: ['kæwn-tê-nêns]
Definition: Tolerate; sanction (positively), put up with, favor.
Usage: It is odd that the verb "countenance" means "tolerate" while the noun means "expression on the face." However, at one time "to keep one's countenance" meant to remain normal or neutral in behavior, not to show any emotional response. So both terms originally referred to the control of behavior (as expressed by the face), then the verb's meaning developed into remaining neutral and from there, by a short hop, to showing toleration or favor. Even the noun "countenance" when used alone implies a positive expression on the face. There is a negative verb, discountenance "to disfavor, not tolerate."
////////////////The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed.
~Nicolas Chamfort~
////////////////////////IND NOT SHNING
//////////////SASIA RAPIDLY BCOMING TOMALIA
/////////////////
"I can move into calmness and peace simply by being aware of my breath."
////////////////In everyday language, people sometimes say that immoral behaviours "leave a bad taste in your mouth". But this may be more than a metaphor according to new scientific evidence from the University of Toronto that shows a link between moral disgust and more primitive forms of disgust related to poison and disease.
"Morality is often pointed to as the pinnacle of human evolution and development," says lead author Hanah Chapman, a graduate student in the Department of Psychology. "However, disgust is an ancient and rather primitive emotion which played a key evolutionary role in survival. Our research shows the involvement of disgust in morality, suggesting that moral judgment may depend as much on simple emotional processes as on complex thought." The research is being published in Science on February 27, 2009.
In the study, the scientists examined facial movements when participants tasted unpleasant liquids and looked at photographs of disgusting objects such as dirty toilets or injuries. They compared these to their facial movements when they were subjected to unfair treatment in a laboratory game. The U of T team found that people make similar facial movements in response to both primitive forms of disgust and moral disgust.
The research employed electromyography, a technique that uses small electrodes placed on the face to detect electrical activation that occurs when the facial muscles contract. In particular, they focused on movement of the levator labii muscle, which acts to raise the upper lip and wrinkle the nose, movements that are thought to be characteristic of the facial expression of disgust.
////////////////////////////////"Confidence is a resolute state of mind by which you believe nothing is impossible." ~ Dr. John Eliot from Overachievement
///////////////////Entropy (noun)
Pronunciation: ['en-trê-pi]
Definition: (1) The measure of energy unavailable for work in a closed system, generally taken to be the degree of systemic disorder; (2) the tendency for all matter and energy in the universe to degenerate and become inert, inactive; (3) the steady deterioration of any system.
Usage: The adjective for today's word is "entropic" and the adverb, "entropically." "Entropy" is a lack of energy while "apathy" is a lack of interest—mental entropy, if you will. Today's word is used mostly by scientists, especially physicists, who assign it very specific meanings. However, its basic sense is a loss of energy which leads to dissipation, degeneration or that state itself.
////////////////It's Square Root Day!
by rvannoorden
Posted on behalf of Roberta Kwok
Pop the champagne, everyone: Today is March 3, 2009 (or 3/3/09), and that means that some math-related partying is in order.
If you're tempted to suppress your inner geek, just remember that Square Root Day only happens nine times a century. The last one was Feb. 2, 2004, and the next one won't be until April 4, 2016.
"These days are like calendar comets," says Ron Gordon, a teacher in Redwood City, California [AP]. "You wait and wait and wait for them, then they brighten up your day - and poof - they're gone."
/////////////////The world’s oldest brain
by dcressey
The oldest brain ever found was officially unveiled this week, in the journal PNAS.
Researchers at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility were using X-rays to image the inside of an ancient fish skull fossil when they discovered what they call “a strikingly brain-shaped structure” (press release, research paper - link live soon). They suggest the 300 million year old brain of the iniopterygian fish was mineralised due to microbes.
//////////////PLACK=The world’s oldest brain
by dcressey
The oldest brain ever found was officially unveiled this week, in the journal PNAS.
Researchers at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility were using X-rays to image the inside of an ancient fish skull fossil when they discovered what they call “a strikingly brain-shaped structure” (press release, research paper - link live soon). They suggest the 300 million year old brain of the iniopterygian fish was mineralised due to microbes.
////////////
CDS 030309-LL PRSSR CRSS-PHOS KORE EMAIL LIKHECHHI
//////////////////NO MAL INTENT
////////////////RCNT CRTCSMS-OMR CRSS-UVC CRSS-AEDF CRSS-NOW LL OBS CRSS
///////////////OVRWKD? HNG AWAY ON 1/2 DAYS
///////////////BTKAT-126 +
///////////////
////////////////RCNT CRTCSMS-OMR CRSS-UVC CRSS-AEDF CRSS-NOW LL OBS CRSS
///////////////OVRWKD? HNG AWAY ON 1/2 DAYS
///////////////BTKAT-126 +
///////////////
Monday, 2 March 2009
CDS 020309-DTH TRMNL SEDN-MORPHN MDZLM
//////////////Style is the perfection of a point of view.
—Richard Eberhart
//////////////////Sufficient to each day are the duties to be done and the trials to be endured.
T. L. Gayler
///////////////Excessive Sleepiness Predicts Death
Energy is the backbone of life and a new study makes this perfectly clear. A group of 9294 individuals, age 65 at the start of study, was followed for six years. Those with excessive daytime sleepiness had a 49% increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a 33% increased risk of dying from any cause
///////////////////////"Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference."
– Virginia Satir
//////////////////////////////
—Richard Eberhart
//////////////////Sufficient to each day are the duties to be done and the trials to be endured.
T. L. Gayler
///////////////Excessive Sleepiness Predicts Death
Energy is the backbone of life and a new study makes this perfectly clear. A group of 9294 individuals, age 65 at the start of study, was followed for six years. Those with excessive daytime sleepiness had a 49% increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a 33% increased risk of dying from any cause
///////////////////////"Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference."
– Virginia Satir
//////////////////////////////
Sunday, 1 March 2009
FREE MKT RLTY SHOW
////////////No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence."
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
/////////////SQUARE WATERMELON
/////////////COCONUT
///////////////BBCD
//////////////////Bob Marley: A Life by Garry Steckles
by geoffreyphilp101@gmail.com (http://geoffreyphilp.blogspot.com/)
One of the twentieth century’s most revered cultural figures, Bob Marley was responsible for carrying reggae music far beyond the Caribbean and establishing it as an international force. He set attendance records that still stand in Europe and his 1977 Exodus album was hailed by Time magazine as the greatest of the 20th Century, but Marley was no mere pop star: His combination of politically and socially conscious lyrics, unforgettable melodies, uncompromising Rastafarian beliefs and fierce hostility to the injustices of "Babylon" made his music the voice of the poor and dispossessed all over the globe.
In this new biography, Garry Steckles tells Marley’s story from his birth in rural Jamaica to his tragically early death in 1981, by which time he’d overcome poverty and prejudice to become the Third World’s first superstar.
Steckles, who has been intimately involved with reggae for more than three decades as a writer, concert promoter, broadcaster and fan, transports you into the smoky Kingston studios where Marley made his first recordings, documents his often turbulent relationships with reggae legends like studio pioneer Clement "Coxson" Dodd, fellow Wailers Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, and the wildly eccentric producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, introduces you to behind-the-scenes legends like Island Records founder Chris Blackwell and the volatile PR genius Charles Comer, and takes you on the Rasta roller-coaster that carried Marley to the cover of the Rolling Stone and global adulation.
////////////////////Sensory Integration - The more senses you can use in learning something the easier it is to remember. If you can listen to a lecture, watch a video, and touch and feel something you want to learn you will remember far more easily than when using a single sensory input. Experiments have even shown that replicating the smells that were present when something was learned improves memories. You can remember the plot of a movie you saw in the theater better when the smell of popcorn is surrounding you.
Exploration - Our brains are wired to learn by exploring. Creating an environment that allows the use of creativity is powerful. Google’s practice of letting people spend 20% of their time pursuing projects that come from employee’s own curiosity is one example of this.
//////////////////Flu Was Not the Real Killer in the 1918 Pandemic
by Dr. Joseph Mercola
Strep infections, rather than the flu virus itself, may have killed most people during the 1918 influenza pandemic. This suggests that some of the most dire predictions about a potential new pandemic could be exaggerated. Scientists looked at the available information regarding the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed anywhere between 50 million and 100 million people globally in the space of about 18 months. Some research has shown that on average it took a week to 11 days for people to die, which fits in more with the known pattern of a bacterial infection than a viral infection. People with influenza often get what is known as a "superinfection" with a bacterial agent. In 1918 it appears to have been Streptococcus pneumoniae. Many projections for a new pandemic have been based on a worst-case 1918 scenario, in which tens of millions of people would die globally. However, since strep is much easier to treat than the flu using modern medicine, a new pandemic might be much less dire than it was in the early 20th century.
/////////////////////Why Getting Dirty Will Do You a World of Good
by Bean Jones
Wake up and smell the dirt! You'll feel better if you spend some time outdoors.
A study published in the journal Neuroscience may very well boost the popularity of gardening.
Scientists discovered that bacteria found in soil, Mycobacterium vaccae, increases the brain's serotonin production in the part of the brain that controls moods. Serotonin is likewise credited for strengthening immune function.
Surprisingly, the study also reveals that a lack of exposure to the friendly bacteria found in soil has been known to increase a person's vulnerability to asthma and allergy.
In this light, the experts advise: "If you want to feel happy and healthy, do some gardening, eat root crops (such as potatoes and carrots), and spend some time outdoors."
Knowing this now, I am reminded of my grandfather's unwavering defense of my boyhood antics. You see, my mother threw a fit each time I got muddy from playing outside. He'd say, "Oh, stop it! It's good for the boy to get some dirt on him." I don't think my grandpa actually knew the scientific data detailing dirt's good side, but, hey, he was right after all.
This just goes to prove that while cleanliness may be next to godliness, a little dirt certainly wouldn't hurt either.
/////////////////////
Military to use new gel that stops bullets
A new "bullet-busting" shock-absorbent gel is set to save the lives of British soldiers by substantially reinforcing their helmets.
By Thomas Harding Defence Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:34PM GMT 27 Feb 2009
d3O gel: New gel to stop bullets
Richard Palmer invented the D3O shock absorbing material that locks instantly into a solidified form when it is hit at high impact Photo: REUTERS
The Ministry of Defence has awarded £100,000 to a small company that has developed a special substance that hardens immediately on impact.
It is hoped that the shock-absorbing substance will soon be fitted onto the inside of soldiers' helmets reducing in half the kinetic energy of a bullet or piece of shrapnel and hopefully making them impenetrable.
The gel, called d3O locks instantly into a solidified form when it is hit at high impact.
"When moved slowly, the molecules will slip past each other, but in a high-energy impact they will snag and lock together, becoming solid," said Richard Palmer, who invented the gel. "In doing so they absorb energy."
The d3O gel has already expanded into a range of sporting goods and is found in ski gloves, shin guards, ballet shoe pointes and horse-riding equipment. The substance relies on "intelligent molecules" that "shock lock" together to absorb energy and create a solid pad. Once the pressure has gone they return to their normal flexible state.
The gel is stitched into clothing or equipment that is supple until it stiffens into a protective barrier on impact.
If the product is taken on by defence contractors it could be used to reduce the current bulky and restrictive armour used by troops in on the frontline with gel pads inserted into key protective areas.
Mr Palmer said it was the equivalent to comparing "cumbersome" RoboCop to Spiderman with the latter's protection "nimble covert and flexible".
//////////////////But with his latest film, Gran Torino, Eastwood makes his repentance explicit. He plays Walt Kowalski, a cussed old widow and Korean war vet living alone in a neighbourhood that is increasingly populated by immigrants. Walt could be Harry Callahan in retirement: he curses the "babbling gooks" who move in next door and clings to his fat guns.
But one day, Walt sees a gang attacking his Hmong-immigrant neighbours, as they stumble on to his lawn – and he scares them off with a gun. The Hmong family begin to shower him with gifts and affection, as the gang circles every closer. It becomes clear that Walt is broken by the violence he committed more than fifty years ago in Korea. "You want to know what it's like to kill a man?" he asks. "It's gooddam awful and the only thing worse is being given a medal of honour for killing a guy who just wants to live."
Yet it becomes clear that Walt will fight back against the gang to defend his neighbours – and it seems like progress from Dirty Harry, but not much. Yes, liberal vigilantism is better than illiberal vigilantism, but only by inches.
//////////////////
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
/////////////SQUARE WATERMELON
/////////////COCONUT
///////////////BBCD
//////////////////Bob Marley: A Life by Garry Steckles
by geoffreyphilp101@gmail.com (http://geoffreyphilp.blogspot.com/)
One of the twentieth century’s most revered cultural figures, Bob Marley was responsible for carrying reggae music far beyond the Caribbean and establishing it as an international force. He set attendance records that still stand in Europe and his 1977 Exodus album was hailed by Time magazine as the greatest of the 20th Century, but Marley was no mere pop star: His combination of politically and socially conscious lyrics, unforgettable melodies, uncompromising Rastafarian beliefs and fierce hostility to the injustices of "Babylon" made his music the voice of the poor and dispossessed all over the globe.
In this new biography, Garry Steckles tells Marley’s story from his birth in rural Jamaica to his tragically early death in 1981, by which time he’d overcome poverty and prejudice to become the Third World’s first superstar.
Steckles, who has been intimately involved with reggae for more than three decades as a writer, concert promoter, broadcaster and fan, transports you into the smoky Kingston studios where Marley made his first recordings, documents his often turbulent relationships with reggae legends like studio pioneer Clement "Coxson" Dodd, fellow Wailers Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, and the wildly eccentric producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, introduces you to behind-the-scenes legends like Island Records founder Chris Blackwell and the volatile PR genius Charles Comer, and takes you on the Rasta roller-coaster that carried Marley to the cover of the Rolling Stone and global adulation.
////////////////////Sensory Integration - The more senses you can use in learning something the easier it is to remember. If you can listen to a lecture, watch a video, and touch and feel something you want to learn you will remember far more easily than when using a single sensory input. Experiments have even shown that replicating the smells that were present when something was learned improves memories. You can remember the plot of a movie you saw in the theater better when the smell of popcorn is surrounding you.
Exploration - Our brains are wired to learn by exploring. Creating an environment that allows the use of creativity is powerful. Google’s practice of letting people spend 20% of their time pursuing projects that come from employee’s own curiosity is one example of this.
//////////////////Flu Was Not the Real Killer in the 1918 Pandemic
by Dr. Joseph Mercola
Strep infections, rather than the flu virus itself, may have killed most people during the 1918 influenza pandemic. This suggests that some of the most dire predictions about a potential new pandemic could be exaggerated. Scientists looked at the available information regarding the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed anywhere between 50 million and 100 million people globally in the space of about 18 months. Some research has shown that on average it took a week to 11 days for people to die, which fits in more with the known pattern of a bacterial infection than a viral infection. People with influenza often get what is known as a "superinfection" with a bacterial agent. In 1918 it appears to have been Streptococcus pneumoniae. Many projections for a new pandemic have been based on a worst-case 1918 scenario, in which tens of millions of people would die globally. However, since strep is much easier to treat than the flu using modern medicine, a new pandemic might be much less dire than it was in the early 20th century.
/////////////////////Why Getting Dirty Will Do You a World of Good
by Bean Jones
Wake up and smell the dirt! You'll feel better if you spend some time outdoors.
A study published in the journal Neuroscience may very well boost the popularity of gardening.
Scientists discovered that bacteria found in soil, Mycobacterium vaccae, increases the brain's serotonin production in the part of the brain that controls moods. Serotonin is likewise credited for strengthening immune function.
Surprisingly, the study also reveals that a lack of exposure to the friendly bacteria found in soil has been known to increase a person's vulnerability to asthma and allergy.
In this light, the experts advise: "If you want to feel happy and healthy, do some gardening, eat root crops (such as potatoes and carrots), and spend some time outdoors."
Knowing this now, I am reminded of my grandfather's unwavering defense of my boyhood antics. You see, my mother threw a fit each time I got muddy from playing outside. He'd say, "Oh, stop it! It's good for the boy to get some dirt on him." I don't think my grandpa actually knew the scientific data detailing dirt's good side, but, hey, he was right after all.
This just goes to prove that while cleanliness may be next to godliness, a little dirt certainly wouldn't hurt either.
/////////////////////
Military to use new gel that stops bullets
A new "bullet-busting" shock-absorbent gel is set to save the lives of British soldiers by substantially reinforcing their helmets.
By Thomas Harding Defence Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:34PM GMT 27 Feb 2009
d3O gel: New gel to stop bullets
Richard Palmer invented the D3O shock absorbing material that locks instantly into a solidified form when it is hit at high impact Photo: REUTERS
The Ministry of Defence has awarded £100,000 to a small company that has developed a special substance that hardens immediately on impact.
It is hoped that the shock-absorbing substance will soon be fitted onto the inside of soldiers' helmets reducing in half the kinetic energy of a bullet or piece of shrapnel and hopefully making them impenetrable.
The gel, called d3O locks instantly into a solidified form when it is hit at high impact.
"When moved slowly, the molecules will slip past each other, but in a high-energy impact they will snag and lock together, becoming solid," said Richard Palmer, who invented the gel. "In doing so they absorb energy."
The d3O gel has already expanded into a range of sporting goods and is found in ski gloves, shin guards, ballet shoe pointes and horse-riding equipment. The substance relies on "intelligent molecules" that "shock lock" together to absorb energy and create a solid pad. Once the pressure has gone they return to their normal flexible state.
The gel is stitched into clothing or equipment that is supple until it stiffens into a protective barrier on impact.
If the product is taken on by defence contractors it could be used to reduce the current bulky and restrictive armour used by troops in on the frontline with gel pads inserted into key protective areas.
Mr Palmer said it was the equivalent to comparing "cumbersome" RoboCop to Spiderman with the latter's protection "nimble covert and flexible".
//////////////////But with his latest film, Gran Torino, Eastwood makes his repentance explicit. He plays Walt Kowalski, a cussed old widow and Korean war vet living alone in a neighbourhood that is increasingly populated by immigrants. Walt could be Harry Callahan in retirement: he curses the "babbling gooks" who move in next door and clings to his fat guns.
But one day, Walt sees a gang attacking his Hmong-immigrant neighbours, as they stumble on to his lawn – and he scares them off with a gun. The Hmong family begin to shower him with gifts and affection, as the gang circles every closer. It becomes clear that Walt is broken by the violence he committed more than fifty years ago in Korea. "You want to know what it's like to kill a man?" he asks. "It's gooddam awful and the only thing worse is being given a medal of honour for killing a guy who just wants to live."
Yet it becomes clear that Walt will fight back against the gang to defend his neighbours – and it seems like progress from Dirty Harry, but not much. Yes, liberal vigilantism is better than illiberal vigilantism, but only by inches.
//////////////////
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