Clipmarks | balthazarus's clips

Five mysteries of the universe

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 09:25:06 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: The things that look so trivial, and so many times go unnoticed, when one begins to question them, it feels strange and maybe even threatening. Or exciting ?-)

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Five mysteries of the universe

there are scientific phenomena that defy explanation

1 The missing universe

Everything in the universe is either mass or energy, but there's not enough of either

96% of the cosmos is missing

"dark energy" and "dark matter"

2 Life

Next time you see a tree, ask yourself why that is alive when your wooden dining table is not.

3 Death

Here's the flip side: in biology, things eventually die, but there's no good explanation for it

switching genes on and off controls ageing, but if our theory is right, those switches shouldn't have survived natural selection

4 Sex

almost everything in biology uses sexual reproduction rather than asexual cloning

sex is a highly inefficient way to reproduce

At the moment, sex only seems to exist to give males some role in life.

5 Free will

Neuroscientists are almost convinced that free will is an illusion.

our brains allow us to think we are controlling our bodies, but our movements begin before we make a conscious decision to move.

New forest with undiscovered species was found on Google Earth

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 08:55:58 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: Who could have imagined that here on earth new territories can still be discovered....

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Scientists discover new forest with undiscovered species on Google Earth

The mountainous area of northern Mozambique in southern Africa had been overlooked by science due to inhospitable terrain and decades of civil war in the country.

However, while scrolling around on Google Earth, an internet map that allows the viewer to look at satellite images of anywhere on the globe, scientists discovered an unexpected patch of green.

A British-led expedition was sent to see what was on the ground and found 7,000 hectares of forest, rich in biodiversity, known as Mount Mabu.

ulian Bayliss, a scientist for Kew based in the region, discovered Mount Mabu while searching on Google Earth for a possible conservation project.

digital imagery has helped scientists to discover more about the world

may be other small pockets of biodiversity

to be discovered that could be stumbled upon by searching on Google Earth

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Jonathan Timberlake

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Tags: forests, google earth, google maps, green

Born believers: How your brain creates God

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:32:40 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: the second view is made of two arguments:
1) "common-sense dualism". The body is for physical processes, like eating and moving, while the mind carries our consciousness in a separate - and separable - package.
2)an overdeveloped sense of cause and effect which primes us to see purpose and design everywhere, even where there is none.
these two statements combined, lead the way for the invention of god, goddess and the like.
Interesting...

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

WHILE many institutions collapsed during the Great Depression that began in 1929, one kind did rather well. During this leanest of times, the strictest, most authoritarian churches saw a surge in attendance.

It turns out that human beings have a natural inclination for religious belief, especially during hard times.

the more insecure we feel, the harder it is to resist the pull of this supernatural world

Religious ideas are common to all cultures: like language and music, they seem to be part of what it is to be human.

One leading idea is that religion is an evolutionary adaptation that makes people more likely to survive and pass their genes onto the next generation

helped our ancestors form tightly knit groups that cooperated in hunting, foraging and childcare, enabling these groups to outcompete others

they do not explain its origin, but simply how it spread.

religion emerges as a natural by-product of the way the human mind works

the foundations for our religious beliefs are hard-wired

Tags: religion, evolution, cognition

Online friendships are, essentially, self-selecting.

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 12:49:13 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: The question that arises is, what is considered as real? does one's identity online is less real than her offline one? on what basis?

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Virtual people, real friends

people are increasingly open to turning "online" friends into people they'd deign to call real life friends.

The friends I've made online – from blogging in particular, be they other bloggers or commenters on this or my own site – are the best friends I now have

And yet, when I say this to people, many times they'll look at me like I'm a social failure

the internet is full of lively minded, like-minded engaging people – for the first time in history we're lucky enough to choose friends not by location or luck

The friends I have now might be spread wide, geographically, but I'm closer to them than anyone I went to school with, by about a million miles

There's no trying to slowly work out whether you think similarly or have the same kinds of life experience

though it's treated with an air of disdain. It's the sense of shock that surprises me, as if people on the internet were not "real" at all

by making friends online, you're simply speeding through the whole process

Tags: web 2.0, friendship, virtual, reality

For the first time, everyone can see the whole world

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 09:52:27 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: "Google Earth has introduced 21 layers of data from various organizations that provide information about specific ocean sites."
I find this collaborative work inspiring, in relation to how humanity can unite in creating a win win situation for all.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Google Earth, Google Ocean: mysteries of the seafloor are mapped for the first time

Since Google Earth launched in 2006 millions of people have used its virtual globe to "travel" around the planet without leaving home, climbing a digital version of Mount Everest and even flying into space thanks to the website.

Now the internet company plans to take on one of the last bastions of the unknown: the depths of the ocean.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Ocean in Google Earth will let users dive below the surface of the water to examine wildlife, mountains and shipwrecks in this murky world.

To help users understand what they are looking at, Google has assembled a coalition of more than 80 organisations, including the National Geographic Society, BBC and the Marine Conservation Society, to provide images, video and analysis in regularly-updated "layers" of information added to Google's basic mapping technology.

Users will be able to track the movements of animals in the sea, view marine protected areas

you can now dive into

Tags: google earth, ocean

Calm? Why should I be calm?

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 10:27:45 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: 1) There's far too much emphasis on being happy these days.
2) Trying to 'contain' sometimes makes one numb more than alive...

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Calm? Why should I be calm?

'I wish I could think of a positive point to leave you with," Woody Allen once said at the end of a standup routine. "Will you take two negative points?"

Researchers at Harvard Medical School have now shown this to be the case with anger in the workplace. They found that people who tried to repress frustration at work were more likely to feel trapped under a glass ceiling than those who found ways to let it all out.

It's important that the anger is channelled constructively

would have us believe that the emotionally mature can achieve the same results without the need for primal emotions

When you try to cool down hot emotions, what tends to happen is that you end up either repressing them or losing them altogether

social interaction loses its meaning

without that, many of our actions and reactions become meaningless

reminder that emotions are in themselves neither good nor bad

the universal injunction to think more positively should make us just a little bit angry

In time, why are seconds called seconds?

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:25:55 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: A great anecdote, teaches a lot about how new availability or should i say ability, creates and changes the reality.

Clip Source: www.boston.com

In time, why are seconds called seconds?

This is an excellent question that speaks to how our notions of time have evolved with technology

To explain a second, we need to start with a minute. The word minute was derived from Latin and carried the notion of a small interval. When you divide an hour into 60 equal pieces, you get a very small - or "minute" (as in, accent on the SECOND syllable) - length of time

The word second is short for "second minute," meaning a second division into small pieces (60 again), a sort of second order of minuteness. A second was considered a very short time indeed.

This sort of small unit arose only around 1391 when technology - specifically the advent of mechanical timekeeping devices - made the concept meaningful.

Before that, people would refer to times easy to determine from natural phenomena: midday, sunrise, sunset, etc. They were a lot more relaxed about time, and lived more in har- mony with natural cycles.

"WiTricity"- wireless electricity

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 09:28:18 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: Amazing.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

'Wireless power' spells end for cables

No more batteries, no more chargers and no more wire spaghetti. This is the future promised by "wireless power", a means of broadcasting electricity through the air to laptops, iPods and other gadgets without the need for cables and sockets.

Experts believe this is just the beginning and that eventually wireless electricity

You'd be able to buy a desk that charged any gadget placed on it, or power any PC you put on top

The technology also promises energy efficiency because it would only power products when needed.

once you walked through the front door your mobile would start charging up - even while still in your bag or pocket

energy would only be picked up by gadgets designed to "resonate" with the field

Clip Source: www.powerbeaminc.com

We have the ability to “beam” power to any device anywhere within line of sight giving you the freedom to live truly wirelessly

Advantages

Control: is the essence of power

Range:

our technology provides the ability to power devices at any distance

Tags: electricity, wireless, technology

What is a fair price for free knowledge?

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:59:02 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: "When it comes to knowledge, you can never have too much of a good thing."

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

Finding a fair price for free knowledge

TEN years ago, a piece of software called Napster taught us that scarcity is no longer a law of nature. The physics of our universe would allow everyone with access to a networked computer to enjoy, for free, every song, every film, every book, every piece of research, every computer program, every last thing that could be made out of digital ones and zeros. The question became not, will nature allow it, but will our legal and economic system ever allow it?

The irony of the battle between advocates of abundance and advocates of scarcity is that both sides are right. It makes no sense to limit and control access now we have technologies to give information to everyone. But it is also foolish to pretend we do not need incentives to help produce and publish that information.

build institutions that promote knowledge-sharing

while at the same time ensuring that there are incentives for creative and technical minds to contribute

Tags: internet, knowledge, open source

The World Reacts in picture to Obama's victory

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:22:58 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: A modern hero? no doubt he stirs the heart of many.

Clipmarks | balthazarus's clips

Five mysteries of the universe

Five mysteries of the universe

New forest with undiscovered species was found on Google Earth

Scientists discover new forest with undiscovered species on Google Earth

Born believers: How your brain creates God

Online friendships are, essentially, self-selecting.

Virtual people, real friends

For the first time, everyone can see the whole world

Google Earth, Google Ocean: mysteries of the seafloor are mapped for the first time

Calm? Why should I be calm?

Calm? Why should I be calm?

In time, why are seconds called seconds?

In time, why are seconds called seconds?

"WiTricity"- wireless electricity

'Wireless power' spells end for cables

What is a fair price for free knowledge?

Finding a fair price for free knowledge

The World Reacts in picture to Obama's victory

The World Reacts

Scientists open doors with the power of the mind

Scientists open doors with the power of the mind

Stone age man, used to get stoned :)

Stone Age man took drugs, say scientists

Scientists have discovered evidence suggesting Stone Age man used herbal mixtures to get high.

Sculpting the Impossible

Sculpting the Impossible: Solid Renditions of Visual Illusions

Artists find mind-bending ways to bring visual illusions called impossible figures into three-dimensional reality.

Is Love Blind?

People in Love Are Blind to Pretty Faces

Postcards From Mars

Postcards From Mars