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Ethan Trex Symbolism and the $1 Bill

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 04:46:58 GMT

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Clip Source: blogs.static.mentalfloss.com

Crack open your wallet, pull out everyone’s favorite portrait of George Washington, and be prepared to learn about some odd symbolism that probably seemed perfectly normal in the 18th century. Here are the explanations behind some of the more baffling parts of our nation’s smallest bills.

What’s that weird pyramid drawing on the reverse of the bill?

The two circular drawings on the reverse of the bill are actually parts of the two-sided Great Seal of the United States. Although we don’t see the entire seal outside of our wallets too often, the notion of having a great seal is actually as old as the country itself. The Continental Congress passed a resolution on July 4, 1776, to create a committee to design a great seal for the fledgling nation, and heavy hitters John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson got the first crack at creating the seal.

CHICKEN AND PUP

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:25:38 GMT

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Clip Source: www.e-brighthorizons.com

Once a mom, always a mom.

Thank you, Moms!

Dogs as Smart as 2-Year-Old Kids

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 04:05:44 GMT

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Clip Source: news.aol.com

Dogs as Smart as 2-Year-Old Kids

(Aug. 8) - The canine IQ test results are in: Even the average dog has the mental abilities of a 2-year-old child.

The finding is based on a language development test, revealing average dogs can learn 165 words (similar to a 2-year-old child), including signals and gestures, and dogs in the top 20 percent in intelligence can learn 250 words.

The 7 Sharpest Breeds

According to a recent canine IQ test, the average dog is just about as smart as a 2-year-old child. So which breeds are the smartest? Click through to find out:

jupiterimages

7 photos

HEART PUPPY

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:49:53 GMT

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Clip Source: www.yahoo.com

The dog whose heart-shaped patch made him a Web star gets a little brother. » See them together

OPEN A BANANA LIKE A MONKEY

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:56:07 GMT

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Clip Source: lifehacker.com

If you watched the video and said "That's how I do it!" good for you, you're a primate most efficient. If you were amazed by the simplicity of the upside down maneuver, congratulations you've just learned a simple and effective way to chow down on your favorite yellow fruit. Have an unconventional technique for skinning, peeling, or otherwise getting at the delicious parts of your favorite foods? Let's hear about it in the comments below.

PERFECT VISUAL MEMORY

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:17:33 GMT

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Clip Source: io9.com

A Drug That Could Give You Perfect Visual Memory

Imagine if you could look at something once and remember it forever. You would never have to ask for directions again. Now a group of scientists has isolated a protein that mega-boosts your ability to remember what you see.

A group of Spanish researchers reported today in Science that they may have stumbled upon a substance that could become the ultimate memory-enhancer. The group was studying a poorly-understood region of the visual cortex. They found that if they boosted production of a protein called RGS-14 (pictured) in that area of the visual cortex in mice, it dramatically affected the animals' ability to remember objects they had seen.

Could it also be a way to gain photographic memory? For example, if I look at a page of text will I remember the words perfectly? Or will I simply remember how the page looked?

Science Museum

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:59:22 GMT

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Clip Source: www.sciencemuseum.org.uk

Bringing science to life, and life to science... welcome to the Science Museum

Open 7 days a week from 10.00 to 18.00 except 24 to 26 December.

Entry is free

Visit the museum

Rare White Lions in South Africa

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:52:42 GMT

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Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Rare White Lions in South Africa

Often mistaken for albino lions, their translucent fur and bright blue eyes are the product of a rare gene, meaning they are seen by many, including tribal elders in Africa, as the most sacred animal on the African continent.

Earliest Known Sound Recordings Revealed

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:35:41 GMT

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Clip Source: www.usnews.com

Article

Earliest Known Sound Recordings Revealed

Researchers unveil imprints made 20 years before Edison invented phonograph

Posted June 1, 2009

By Ron Cowen, Science News

WASHINGTON—The muffled sounds from more than 150 years ago resemble the “wa wa” of the unseen teacher in the Peanuts cartoons. It would be impossible to know that someone was playing the coronet and guitar, although other fragments, from a dramatic speech from Shakespeare’s Othello, might be discerned if you knew the lines by heart in French.

IMAGE GALLERIES

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:28:34 GMT

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Clip Source: christensenastroimages.com

Welcome to my Astrophotography Web Pages.
Click a thumbnail on the left to see a gallery of different types of objects.

Kindness for your robber

Sat, 23 May 2009 04:04:42 GMT

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clipper's remarks: This is excellent. This is a wonderful thing this person did.

Clip Source: imperfectaction.com

Kindness for your robber?!

What would you do if you were robbed at knife point?

Julio Diaz is s social worker who lives in New York City and every night at the end of his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx. Julio stops for dinner at his favorite diner.

One night in February 2008 , as Julio stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn. He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached him and pulled out a knife. The boy ask Julio for his money and Julio handed over his wallet.

As the teen began to walk away, Julio told him, “Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you’re going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm.”

The teen look at Julio with a puzzled look on his face than said to Julio, “Why are you doing this?’”

Number of alien worlds quantified

Fri, 22 May 2009 07:21:09 GMT

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Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Number of alien worlds quantified

Intelligent civilisations are out there and there could be thousands of them, according to an Edinburgh scientist.

The discovery of more than 330 planets outside our solar system in recent years has helped refine the number of life forms that are likely to exist.

The current research estimates that there are at least 361 intelligent civilisations in our Galaxy and possibly as many as 38,000.

The work is reported in the International Journal of Astrobiology.

Even with the higher of the two estimates, however, it is not very likely that contact could be established with alien worlds.

While researchers often come up with overall estimates of the likelihood of intelligent life in the universe, it is a process fraught with guesswork; recent guesses put the number anywhere between a million and less than one.

"It's a process of quantifying our ignorance," said Duncan Forgan, the University of Edinburgh researcher who carried out the work.

Former astronaut says Roswell UFO crash true

Fri, 22 May 2009 07:17:06 GMT

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Clip Source: www.americanchronicle.com

Former astronaut says Roswell UFO crash true

According to a CNN report April 20, 2009, former astronaut Edgar Mitchell told an audience at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., that the basic story of a 1947 UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico, is true.

Mitchell was an astronaut on the Apollo 14 mission to the moon in 1971 and he spoke at the National Press Club after the fifth annual X-Conference, an event focused on research involving UFOs.

CNN reported that Mitchell told journalists that there is firm knowledge that extraterrestrial life exists and this information is being held back from the general public in the U.S. and internationally.

Mitchell was raised in Roswell and knew many of the townspeople there. He said they confided to him years later about what they knew, although they had been told to keep the information quiet.

In addition, Mitchell said that about 10 years ago a Navy admiral working for the Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed to him that a UFO had crashed at Roswell.

World’s first flying car prepares for take-off

Fri, 22 May 2009 06:22:46 GMT

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Clip Source: business.timesonline.co.uk

World’s first flying car prepares for take-off

Is it a car? Is it a plane? Actually it’s both. The first flying automobile, equally at home in the sky or on the road, is scheduled to take to the air next month.

If it survives its first test flight, the Terrafugia Transition, which can transform itself from a two-seater road car to a plane in 15 seconds, is expected to land in showrooms in about 18 months’ time.

Its manufacturer says it is easy to keep and run since it uses normal unleaded fuel and will fit into a garage.

Carl Dietrich, who runs the Massachusetts-based Terrafugia, said: “This is the first really integrated design where the wings fold up automatically and all the parts are in one vehicle.”

Terrafugia claims it will be able to fly up to 500 miles on a single tank of petrol at a cruising speed of 115mph. Up to now, however, it has been tested only on roads at up to 90mph.

Meditation increases brain gray matter

Fri, 22 May 2009 05:47:52 GMT

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Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Meditation increases brain gray matter

Push-ups, crunches, gyms, personal trainers -- people have many strategies for building bigger muscles and stronger bones. But what can one do to build a bigger brain? Meditate.

That's the finding from a group of researchers at UCLA who used high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan the brains of people who meditate. In a study published in the journal NeuroImage and currently available online (by subscription), the researchers report that certain regions in the brains of long-term meditators were larger than in a similar control group.

Specifically, meditators showed significantly larger volumes of the hippocampus and areas within the orbito-frontal cortex, the thalamus and the inferior temporal gyrus — all regions known for regulating emotions.