Clipmarks | Tommolo's clips

Learning From Poetry

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 19:05:59 GMT

clipped by: Tommolo

No matter what kind of writing you do, reading poetry can be a great way to improve your writing skills. The principles of poetry can be applied to nearly every kind of writing you do. Let’s take a look at what we can learn from poetry.

1. Poetry teaches word economy.

In a poem, not a single word is wasted. Poets strive for finding the most effective words to convey each thought, emotion or idea.

2. Poetry uses powerful imagery.

Poets create strong visuals for their readers, truly giving the reader a glimpse of their subjects.

3. Poetry is inspiring.

The emotional response we have to the poem can often lead to an outlet for our own ideas

The Writer’s Almanac from Garrison Keillor offers daily poems as well as historical information. Poetry Daily is another daily poem site. If you prefer, you can get get a haiku a day from Daily Haiku or tinywords

Tags: poetry, writing

100 most often misspelled words in English.

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 16:11:07 GMT

clipped by: aculton
clipper's remarks: Thank God for spell check.
There are lots more, just picked a few to share with you.

Clip Source: www.yourdictionary.com

100 MOST OFTEN ~~MISPELLED~~ MISSPELLED WORDS IN ENGLISH

accommodate

Remember, this word is large enough to accommodate both a double "c" AND a double "m".

acquire

Try to acquire the knowledge that this word and the next began with the prefix ad- but the [d] converts to [c] before [q].

calendar

This word has an [e] between two [a]s. The last vowel is [a].

committed

If you are committed to correct spelling, you will remember that this word doubles its final [t] from "commit" to "committed."

conscious

Try to be conscious of the "sc" [ch] sound and all the vowels in this word's ending and i-o-u a note of congratulations.

experience

Don't experience the same problem many have with "existence" above in this word: -ence!

humorous

Humor us and spell this word "humorous": the [r] is so weak, it needs an [o] on both sides to hold it up.

ignorance

Don't show your ignorance by spelling this word -ence!

independent

Please be independent but not in your spelling of this word. It ends on -ent.

Tags: dictionary, english, words

Writing links & Writers Links for Writers

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 13:45:20 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.internet-resources.com

HODGE-PODGE :

NETWORKING & CONNECTIONS :

BUSINESS :

BUSINESS - submissions & markets :

Mark Y. Herring - 10 Reasons Why the Internet Is No Substitute for a Library
Andy Barnett - Here to stay 2.02: The top ten reasons why the Internet still will not replace the public library
12 Ways Libraries Are Good for the Country
Vartan Gregorian - Libraries - "a source of self-renewal, intellectual growth, and hope"
Marylaine Block - What is NOT on the Net

REFERENCE & RESEARCH :

HISTORY REFERENCE & RESEARCH

WORD STUFF

A WRITER'S LIFE :

WRITERS' PERIODICALS & NEWSLETTERS :

FICTION :

NON-FICTION

OTHER :

... and an added note ...

For those who have asked and those who may, this collection of links for writers, researchers and the terminally curious is not, was never intended to be, and will never be the all-inclusive stash of every possible link fitting our slapdash criteria for what belongs here

We try to stay away from scammers and frauds; if you see links to what you think are questionable sites, drop us a line

Tags: writing, link, resource, library, literaturefiction, non fiction

EVA Air : Hello Kitty Jet to fly to Hong Kong

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 13:04:04 GMT

clipped by: Tommolo

Clip Source: www.evaair.com

Our first Kitty Jet was launched on services linking Taiwan and Japan in October 2005 and proved so popular, that we launched a second jet last year. Traffic between the two destinations has increased substantially. We have had

lots of feedback from customers requesting a similar service to Hong Kong and expect it to be a big hit with our younger passengers

Each passenger has access to the personal interactive Star Gallery audio/video on demand (AVOD) entertainment system with movies, features, music, video games and shopping options. Satellite communications including digital air-to-ground short message service (SMS) in English and Chinese are also available. The aircraft is equipped with steam ovens, intelligent-memory foam seating, touch-free infrared faucets and an extra-wide 60-inch lavatory for passengers with special needs and baby changing.

Clip Source: www.photopumpkin.com

Tags: hello kitty, planes

Mobile phone technology turns 20

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 12:55:40 GMT

clipped by: Tommolo

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

On 7 September 1987, 15 phone firms signed an agreement to build mobile networks based on the Global System for Mobile (GSM) Communications.

According to the GSM Association there are more than 2.5 billion accounts that use this mobile phone technology.

"The technology is a gravitational force that brings in to its orbit a huge amount of innovators," he said.

"There's no doubt that at the time of the agreement in 1987 no one had an idea of the explosive capabilities in terms of growth that would happen after the GSM standard was agreed,"

There are so many phones that recycling them is a problem

GSM FACTS

China has 445 million GSM customers

There are 2.5 billion GSM connections worldwide

64% of mobile users are in emerging markets

About seven billion text messages are sent every day

Source: GSM Association

Tags: technology, gsm, cellphone

Length of Saturn's Day Revised

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 10:41:05 GMT

clipped by: Tommolo

Clip Source: www.space.com

A day on Saturn just got a few minutes shorter, if new calculations are correct.

scientists have revised the ringed planet's rotation period to 10 hours, 32 minutes and 35 seconds-about 15 minutes shorter than an estimate made only last year

Those precious minutes could have big implications for how scientists think about Saturn and other gas giants.

The new finding might also help scientists distinguish between two competing theories of gas planet formation. According to the "core accretion" model, gas giants form in a similar manner to rocky planets, by gradually accreting rocky debris until they become so large that they draw vast quantities of hydrogen and helium gas unto themselves.

In the competing "disk instability" model, gas planets form when large clumps of gas orbiting in debris disks around young stars collapse under their own gravity to eventually form planets.

Tags: space, saturn, day, time

Typical Windows Error....Kinda

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 09:29:42 GMT

clipped by: Tommolo

Clip Source: garith-aerlin.deviantart.com

Typical Windows Error....Kinda by ~Garith-Aerlin

Tags: jokes, windows, error

Humans' Complex Social Skills Due to Larger Brains

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 16:08:45 GMT

clipped by: Tommolo

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

Researchers who put human toddlers and great apes through a series of physical and cognitive tests found that human social skills are superior to those of our closest genetic relatives, whose brains are smaller.

The results found that chimpanzees, orangutans, and human children were all equally successful in the physical skills tests.

But the human children were significantly better at the social skills tests

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

There are two main theories as to why humans have evolved larger brains than their primate relatives. A huge brain is a serious investment— neural tissue guzzles a lot of energy.

The cultural intelligence hypothesis, bolstered by this recent study, says that bigger brains have specifically enabled us to develop more complex social skills.

"Mental illness may be the evolutionary cost of this complexity."

Tags: evolution, brain, social skills

Evolution May Favor Schizophrenia Genes

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 16:02:57 GMT

clipped by: Tommolo

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Schizophrenia, the psychotic disorder marked by hallucinations, multiple personalities and cognitive disorganization, affects roughly 1 percent of the U.S. population. Many of those afflicted, however, also have reduced reproductive fitness, which means they are less likely to pass a genetic profile associated with the condition onto their offspring

researchers reached a striking conclusion that several gene variants linked to schizophrenia were actually positively selected and remained largely unchanged over time, suggesting that there was some advantage to having them

Over the past decade, several dozen genes have been identified as potential culprits, and scientists believe that several genes cause disruptions in protein formations predisposing a person to schizophrenia

28 of the schizophrenia-associated genes have been evolutionarily preferred in recent years by either Caucasian, Asian or African populations

we don't really know what the basis of the selection has been

Tags: healt, mind

Adult Brain Can Still Change

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 18:20:12 GMT

clipped by: Tommolo

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

A new case study of a stroke patient suggests that adults' brains might be just as "plastic," or capable of creating new neural pathways, as those of children.

Past research has established the remarkable capacity of young brains to change or adapt to deficits by creating new signaling routes, a phenomenon called plasticity. However, whether adult brains have that same capacity has remained controversial.

The new finding adds weight to suggestions made by other research about the ability of adult brains to morph.

This year, neuroscientists reported the adult mice could grow new neurons, a finding they said could have implications for the treatment of human neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's. A similar finding was reported a couple of years ago in mice. In 2005, a brain-scan study of human adults with macular degeneration showed evidence of plasticity in the visual regions of their brains.

Tags: research, brain, health

Four dimensional picture of the Universe

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:44:03 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: aether.lbl.gov

Tags: universe, dimension, time space, big bang, history, picture

Britain approves human-animal embryo research

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 18:57:29 GMT

clipped by: Tommolo

Clip Source: today.reuters.com

British regulators decided on Wednesday to permit in principle the creation of hybrid human-animal embryos for research into illnesses such as Parkinson's, Motor Neurone Disease and Alzheimer's

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) agreed to allow a specific kind of inter-species hybrid, where human DNA is injected into a hollowed out animal egg cell

The resulting "cytoplastic hybrid" embryo, or "cybrid" would be 99.9 percent human and 0.1 percent animal.

Two teams of British scientists have applied to the HFEA for permission to create such hybrids to overcome a shortage of donated human eggs.

The researchers hope to use the hybrid embryos, which must be destroyed after 14 days, to create stem cells to help find new medical treatments for degenerative diseases.

Clip Source: today.reuters.com

Opponents say mixing even a tiny amount of human genetic material with that of an animal is unnatural and wrong.

Scientists in China, the United States and Canada have already carried out similar work.

Tags: research, hybrid

VeriChip

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 12:10:37 GMT

clipped by: Tommolo

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

VeriChip is the first Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved human-implantable RFID microchip

Clip Source: www.engadget.com

Despite some pretty significant security concerns, everyone's favorite futurific company VeriChip is looking to get its chips under the skin of the largest group of people yet: the entire US military. According to the DC Examiner, the company is lobbying the Pentagon to choose its RFID tags as a replacement for the famous metal dog tags,

Clip Source: www.engadget.com

VeriChip implanting VeriMed RFID chips into 90 volunteers suffering from Alzheimer's. The two-year trial program, VeriMed Patient Identification Project, will involve 200 patients

The chips are designed to manage the records of the patients and their caregivers, and VeriChip is confident that it'll be growing into other "high-risk patient categories" soon

Tags: verichip, health, military, science, research

Zero-G Stresses Immune Organs

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 12:04:56 GMT

clipped by: Tommolo

Clip Source: www.space.com

Scientists conducted an experiment with mice that simulated zero-gravity on the ground and showed that a protein called osteopontin (OPN), a stress hormone connected with bone loss in space, may also be connected with the dangerous wasting of the spleen and thymus organs.

These immune system organs create white bloods cells that battle infections--without them, the body would be open season for disease.

"We think osteopontin is controlling a class of hormones which suppress the immune system," he said. When osteopontin isn't around to control the hormones, immune tissue carries on as normal.

While mice aren't substitutes for astronauts in space, Denhardt explained that the research may eventually cut down the increased risk of getting sick in space--especially during long-term excursions to the moon and eventually Mars.

Denhardt imagines astronauts receiving an injection of such antibodies before rocketing into space

Tags: space, health, research

Cousin Marriages

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 23:28:34 GMT

clipped by: Tommolo
clipper's remarks: stumbled upon this today

Clip Source: www.cousincouples.com

Some people are fixated on the fallacy that cousin couples pose an intolerable risk to their offspring. However it is likely that we are all descendants of cousin marriages. Before civil laws banning cousin marriages, it was preferable to marry a cousin in some communities as it is to this day in many countries.

Children of non-related couples have a 2-3% risk of birth defects, as opposed to first cousins having a 4-6% risk. Genetic counseling is available for those couples that may be at a special risk for birth defects (e.g. You have a defect that runs in your family) In plain terms first cousins have at a 94 percent + chance of having healthy children. Check the links section for more information on genetic counselors. The National Society of Genetic Counselors estimated the increased risk for first cousins is between 1.7 to 2.8 percent, or about the same a any woman over 40 years of age.

Clip Source: www.cousincouples.com

Cousin Marriage Facts

Tags: society, incest, marriage