Clipmarks | darkduskx's Pops

Physicists prove that matter can be in two places at once

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:50:21 GMT

clipped by: katsteevns

Physicists prove that matter can be in two places at once

July 15, 1996

Quantum mechanics has held that matter can be both particle and wave, but researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have 'smeared' one atom in two places at the same time.

Splitting atoms has been a routine task for nuclear physicists for the past half-century, ever since the first uranium reactor was created for the Manhattan Project during World War II. Smearing atoms, however - allowing them to appear in two places at once - is a different story

Scientists long have known, theoretically, that matter exhibits mind-boggling behavior. In the field of quantum mechanics, which encompasses the behavior of individual atoms and their constituents, particles can pass through one another. Others can react to the same stimulus instantly, even though separated by great distances. And the same atom can appear in two places concurrently.

Reports: As many as 15 people watched gang rape of 15-year-old

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:39:56 GMT

clipped by: Lexica
clipper's remarks: As a woman, I worry less about the active predators out there than I do about the much larger number of people who just don't give a damn and wouldn't help.

Clip Source: www.insidebayarea.com

As police continue searching for additional suspects in the gang rape of a 15-year-old girl after a dance at Richmond High School, numerous media outlets from across the country are reporting this morning that police have said as many as 15 people saw what was happening yet did nothing to stop it.

Police arrested and booked a 15-year-old student from Richmond High last night on a charge of felony sexual assault and are continuing to actively search for other suspects — both juveniles and adults, according to police.

Authorities said people took photos,

laughed and some joined in as the girl was repeatedly assaulted. The victim was a student who had attended her homecoming dance earlier in the evening.

Apparently no one called police until word of the ongoing rape spread to a house party in the city's North and East neighborhood, where an appalled partygoer felt obligated to phone in the rumor.

Tags: rape, violence, misogyny, bystander-effect, sometimes-people-suck

The Most Homocidal Countries [INFOGRAPHIC]

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:57:34 GMT

clipped by: clip-on-tie
clipper's remarks: With Halloween around the corner, the idea of being stabbed by a deranged murderer is at the front of our minds. GOOD's latest transparency is a look at where in the world are you most likely to be murdered and which countries have the lowest homicide rates.

Clip Source: awesome.good.is

Interactive viewer | Raw image

Tags: murder, homocide

McDonald's Pulls Out of Iceland

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:50:14 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501
clipper's remarks: McDonald's is to close its business in Iceland because the financial crisis has made it too expensive to operate its franchise.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

The fast food giant said its three outlets in the country would shut - and that it had no plans to return.

Besides the economy, McDonald's blamed the "unique operational complexity" of doing business in an isolated nation with a population of just 300,000.

Iceland's first McDonald's restaurant opened in 1993.

The franchises are run by a firm called Lyst, with owner Jon Gardar Ogmundsson saying the decision was "not taken lightly".

He said that the restaurants imported the goods from Germany, but that costs had almost doubled, with the falling krona making imports prohibitively expensive.

For a kilo of onion, imported from Germany, I'm paying the equivalent of a bottle of good whisky

Jon Gardar Ogmundsson
McDonald's Icelandic franchisee

Congrats, citizens of Mozilla!

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:58:38 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.downloadsquad.com

Congrats, citizens of Mozilla! Firefox population surpasses that of the United States

Over the past two months, Mozilla has been hoovering up new users with reckless abandon - nearly 4 million people per week. At 330 million, the projected number of Firefox users has actually outstripped the population of the United States (which is currently around 305 million).

There's a little numerical kung fu that Mozilla uses to calculate that figure, and while it might not be 100% accurate the bottom line is that there are a crapload of Firefox users out there. And all those little foxes keep chewing away at Internet Explorer's browser-share pie.

Mozilla Europe honcho Tristan Nitot was understandably enthusiastic about the recent growth. Fall typically means an uptick for Firefox. Nitot told ZDNet, "Usually it's a mixture of back-to-school and people getting new computers and installing the latest version. This boosts our numbers every year."

Guess Who Wants to Control the Internet?

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:20:51 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501
clipper's remarks: On last night's Daily Show, Jon Stewart took up the issue of "net neutrality" and Senator John McCain's efforts to create one of those ironically named pieces of legislation that sounds like it is going to deliver something good -- in this case "Internet Freedom" -- but would actually make the Internet suck out loud, forever and ever.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/27/jon-stewart-takes-on-net_n_335517.html

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

As Stewart points out, there's a hidden motive behind everyone who promotes net neutrality! And that is, naturally, advancing a radical socialist agenda by controlling the Internet! Set the telecoms free! Surely we can trust them!

Clip Source: video.google.com

[Video]

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

STEWART: The "Internet Freedom Act of 2009." Now I know it sounds like that bill is the opposite of what its name implies in the way that, say, George Bush's "Clear Skies Act" gutted environmental regulations or Larry Craig's "No Handjobs For Me, Thanks Act" -- which oddly enough allocated a million dollars in federal funding for... and I'm quoting here, "handjobs for Larry Craig." But it's not! What McCain is proposing is that AT&T and Verizon be given "freedom" to control what information passes through the Internet. Information like: John McCain is the number one recipient of donations from the telecom industry and its lobbyists for the past three years, that I looked up on the Google, and it loaded pretty fast!

Tags: news, politics, net, internet, net-neutrality, jon-stewart, john-mccain, video, media-news

10 Of The Most Chilling Haunted Castles In The World

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:19:56 GMT

clipped by: clip-on-tie

Clip Source: weburbanist.com

Have you ever heard an odd sound in the dark, a weird whisper of the wind, shiver with unexplained goosebumps, or have the feeling of being watched? Scoff if you like but most people have at some point in their lives. In every culture from ancients to present, there have been documented beliefs in ghostly spirits. Some people are fascinated by claims of ghosts, spirits, and even demons. There are unnerving places on this planet in which paranormal phenomenon is reported almost identically throughout history, such as castle that are centuries old. Some castles are seeped through with myths and legends, scary stories of spooks, and are believed to be haunted places where restless souls linger in the night. Some castles have been investigated by paranormal teams who record and offer “proof” of the hauntings.

Clip Source: www.copytaste.com

Tags: architecture & design, history & factoids, travel & places

Indian Engineer 'builds' new glaciers via Cakebelly (Amplify)

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:05:38 GMT

clipped by: celestialdancer
clipper's remarks: cakebelly says:

“So far, Mr Norphel’s glaciers have been able to each store up to one million cubic feet of ice, which in turn can irrigate 200 hectares of farm land. For farmers, that can make the difference between crop failure and a bumper crop of more than 1,000 tons of wheat.

The “iceman” says he has seen the effects of global warming on farmland as snows have become thinner on the ground and ice rivers have melted away never to return.

His own work has now been recognised by the Indian government, which has given him £16,000 to build five new glaciers. But time is his enemy, he told The Hindustan Times. “I’m planning to train villagers with instruction CDs that I have made, so that I can pass on the knowledge before I die,” he said. “

Clip Source: cakebelly.amplify.com

By Dean Nelson in New Delhi
Published: 6:00AM GMT 28 Oct 2009

Chewang Norphel, 76, has “built” 12 new glaciers already and is racing to create five more before he dies.

By then he hopes he will have trained enough new “icemen” to continue his work and save the world’s “third icecap” from being transformed into rivers.

His race against time is shared by Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister who called on the region’s Himalayan nations, including China, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan, to form a united front to tackle glacial melting.

By diverting meltwater through a network of pipes into artificial lakes in the shaded side of mountain valleys, he says he has created new glaciers.

A dam or embankment is built to keep in the water, which freezes at night and remains frozen in the absence of direct sunlight. The water remains frozen until March, when the start of summer melts the new glacier and releases the water into the rivers below.

Don't be surprised the media elite sided with Fox

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:05:34 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: The point's neither complex nor subtle. In this country, journalists don't sponsor or participate in partisan political events. Maybe in Venezuela or China, but in the United States, no. Explaining to the New York Times, deputy White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said, "We simply decided to stop abiding by the fiction, which is aided and abetted by the mainstream press, that Fox is a traditional news organization."
Quantcast

Yet neither the Times nor most "mainstream" pundits evaluated the claim on its merits. Most pretended not to grasp the White House's point, and then went straight to the aiding and abetting. Many invoked the ghost of Richard Nixon. Why, to criticize Fox, claimed the Washington Post's Ruth Marcus and Charles Krauthammer, was downright "Nixonian."

NPR's Ken Rudin recalled "what Nixon and Agnew did with their enemies list." So did CNN's Anderson Cooper. Rudin subsequently apologized for the "boneheaded" comparison; Cooper didn't.

Clip Source: www.salon.com

Oct. 28, 2009 | Nobody should be surprised to see the nation's esteemed celebrity news media align with Fox News against the White House, although even a cynical observer like me found the unanimity mildly shocking. Don't they remember what journalism is supposed to be?

Today, even the fig leaf has been removed. A "journalist," so-called, is anybody paid by a media organization to enact the role on television.

Otherwise, anything goes.

The Obama administration's basic charge against Fox News is undeniably true: The network functions as the propaganda wing of the Republican Party. Fox openly organizes and promotes partisan political events such as April's "Fox News Tea Party." Its coverage of congressional "Town Hall" meetings reflected not a single individual supporting healthcare reform, as documented by Media Matters for America. Not one. Fox portrays every perceived setback for the Obama White House as a "victory" for "Fox Nation."

Tags: media, faux news, lemmings, idiots, propaganda

NVIDIA's Next Generation Chip Architecture Fermi

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:13:38 GMT

clipped by: rj3sp

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

Nvidia pushes further into mainstream computing

The company, which made its name selling specialty computer graphics chips designed for gaming, on Wednesday demonstrated a new chip architecture code-named "Fermi," which Nvidia's Chief Executive Jen-Hsun Huang said will roll out in the next few months across the company's GeForce, Quadro and Tesla graphics processors.

Clip Source: www.nvidia.com

The Next Generation CUDA Architecture, Code Named Fermi
The Soul of a Supercomputer in the Body of a GPU

The next generation CUDA architecture, code named “Fermi”, is the most advanced GPU computing architecture ever built. With over three billion transistors and featuring up to 512 CUDA cores, Fermi delivers supercomputing features and performance at 1/10th the cost and 1/20th the power of traditional CPU-only servers.

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Clip Source: www.techtree.com

Nvidia also took a big leap ahead by adding memory technology such as ECC memory support

The Great Depression Increased Life Expectancy

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 02:49:01 GMT

clipped by: chestnut501
clipper's remarks: However, I wouldn't recommend it.

Clip Source: www.scientificamerican.com

Believe it or not,

An economic depression.

can be good for your health.

On September 1st, we ran a story about the health benefits of a good recession. And we received several incredulous responses. Some listeners firmly believe that people eat and drink and smoke more when their finances are bleak. Now along comes another study of life and death during the granddaddy of economic downturns. This time, researchers find that life expectancy actually increased during the years of the Great Depression. Yes, the rate of suicides also increased, but only accounted for two percent of deaths.

So what makes economic good times bad for us? Well, economic growth has been linked to work-related stress, less sleep, on-the-job accidents, traffic fatalities and more pollution. Plus, spending more time at work could mean spending less time caring for sick family members. So when the economy turns healthy again, living more like we’re still in lean times might make us all a bit healthier, as well.

May God please help these people

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:05:52 GMT

clipped by: shaor
clipper's remarks: My heart goes out to these victims, I can only pray for them!

Clip Source: ca.news.yahoo.com

Indonesia calls for quake help as bodies rot in heat

AFP Photo: An Indonesian woman is rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building in the Sumatran...

In the city of Padang, which was devastated by Wednesday's 7.6-magnitude earthquake, emergency teams faced a third night of work to pull bodies from ruins that have claimed the lives of at least 1,100 people.

"Our main problem is that there are a lot of victims still trapped in the rubble. We are struggling to pull them out," Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told reporters.

"We need help from foreign countries for evacuation efforts. We need them to provide skilled rescuers with equipment," she said, also appealing for medics to treat badly injured victims, many with broken bones.

The Red Cross in Geneva said aerial photos suggested the disaster zone extended much further than had previously been known, stretching far across West Sumatra, with some villages entirely destroyed.

don't have proper equipment.

don't even have dogs

To expect oneself to behave flawlessly...

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 09:46:19 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: Nice...

Clip Source: www.motivationalquotes.com

Mother Teresa's Pearls of Wisdom...

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:50:29 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: the rest @ site and a visit shall be the best...

Clip Source: www.associatedcontent.com

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much.

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.

Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.

I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.

There should be less talk - a preaching point is not a meeting point. What do you do then? Take a broom and clean someone's house. That says enough.

Good works are links that form a chain of love.

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one.

We have not come into the world to be numbered; we have been created for a purpose; for great things: to love and be loved.

The Importance of Having Friends Who Disagree

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:24:27 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: Many people make the mistake of surrounding themselves with people who think exactly like them and reinforce every idea or prejudice they have. This is a bad mistake and will often end up distorting the reality you see. One may end up with a "fan club" that just reinforces your prejudices.

So do a quick test right now. Make a list of your closest friends/acquintances/advisors. Then make a separate list of those who think totally differently from you, but are worth listening to anyway. Look at the intersection of these lists.

You may be surprised.

Clip Source: www.clas.ufl.edu

Clip Source: ravimohan.blogspot.com

Why do you need other people?

Every time you have a new idea, you need people you can bounce it off.

Even Einstein needed people to bounce ideas off. Ideas get developed in the process of explaining them to the right kind of person. You need that resistance, just as a carver needs the resistance of the wood.

you need people with a complex combination of characteristics.

They should

have firm (but not rigid) opinions on their own
have logical reasons for those beliefs and be able to articulate them clearly
are driven by ideas and not ideology
not attach their egos to their opinions.
be willing to concede a valid argument even if it forces them to possibly re-examine their beliefs
know how to listen

you may occasionally find that one of your ideas isn't as hot as you think it was or that one of your deeply held convictions is just plain wrong. This is dificult for some people because they make the rightness of their ideas a validation of their worth as persons.