Clipmarks | mugofcoffee's 'interesting.' clips

At a loss for words? Google Suggests!!!

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:54:29 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: quite interesting...

Have you ever been stumped in finding the right words to search for? Back when I was planning my wedding, I had a list of wedding songs in mind, but the problem was that I couldn't remember any of the artist names or song titles. So I started typing into the Google search box parts of the lyrics that I did remember -- and like magic, I saw suggestions with the artist name and song titles that I wanted! (I was opted-in to the keyword suggestions Google Labs experiment at the time). At that moment, I was so proud to be working on Google Suggest, a search feature that provides real-time suggestions while you search.

Help formulate queries

Reduce spelling errors:

Saves keystrokes:

So what are you waiting for? Give it a try. Start typing in a query on Google.com to see Google Suggest in action!

Posted by Jennifer Liu, Product Manager

World speed record in such a short span of life?

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:30:16 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: quite interesting...

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

A small, speckled, asparagus-green chameleon of Madagascar, by contrast, holds a world speed record among just about all of the nearly 30,000 different animals equipped with four limbs and a backbone.

Admittedly, it’s not a record many of us would aspire to best. As researchers recently reported in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the entire life span of the Furcifer labordi chameleon — from the moment of conception to development in the egg, hatching, maturation, breeding and right through to its last little lizardly thud to the ground — clocks in at barely a year.

That hypercondensed biography, the scientists said, may well make the chameleon the shortest-lived tetrapod on Earth, a creature chronologically more like a butterfly or a sea squirt than like the other reptiles, frogs, birds and mammals with which it is taxonomically bundled.

By NATALIE ANGIER

Published: August 18, 2008

How can you fight comment spam???

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:49:28 GMT

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

Clip Source: www.wisegeek.com

Comment spam can be extremely annoying, but there are fortunately several techniques which can be used to fight it. Ideally, you can reach a solution which filters out most of your comment spam without inconveniencing readers. You may want to think about integrating several techniques to stop spammers from several angles.

The first step you can take is using a spam filter

You can also utilize IP banning software. Several companies have created so-called “blacklists” of IPs which are routinely used for spam

you can require all users to register before they post comments, which can reduce the amount of spam which filters through. You can also use a CAPTCHA, a tool which issues a challenge to each commenter.

New measures to combat comment spam are always emerging; if you use a specific type of software to manage your website, keep up with the developer's notes and software updates.

What is Airline English???

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:28:24 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: interesting observations...

Clip Source: www.wisegeek.com

Many frequent fliers can recite the mandatory pre-takeoff safety briefing along with the flight attendant delivering it. What they cannot do, however, is replicate the odd cadence and ultra-formal speech patterns known as airline English. Airline English is an unusual blend of standard English and airline jargon spoken almost exclusively by airline crew members, flight attendants and pilots.

One example of airline English is the nautical terminology associated with air travel. Passengers do not put their suitcases into the overhead cabinets, they "stow" their "cargo" into the overhead "holds." The staff on board an airplane are actually "crew members" who answer to a captain. Flight attendants routinely use this nautical terminology in complete sentences, which can be a little confusing to first time passengers.

Airline English can also be the result of repetitive social greetings, particularly the mandated "goodbye" to disembarking passengers.

The World's freakiest food...

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:59:07 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: c lick the rest of the pic(s) at the site to read on...interesting...

Clip Source: www.thesun.co.uk

Mission to the moon ... capacious cake

Empics

By CHRIS BEANLAND

CHINESE bakers were over the moon when they made the world’s biggest mooncake last year.

The lucky cake was made in Shenyang and weighed a massive 13 tonnes.

See-Through animals :Translucent Creatures photos

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 13:14:33 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: very interesting and a bit odd too!

Clip Source: photography.nationalgeographic.com

A pelagic, or open-ocean, octopus gives off a neon glow in Hawaii. Most species of octopus have no internal skeleton, unlike other cephalopods.

Clip Source: photography.nationalgeographic.com

A photographer's strobe gives a violet sheen to this translucent juvenile roundbelly cowfish off the coast of Kona, Hawaii. Also known as the transparent boxfish, the roundbelly cowfish has two short horns in front of its eyes.

Clip Source: photography.nationalgeographic.com

A hydromedusa spreads its luminescent tentacles in the Weddell Sea near Antarctica.

Clip Source: photography.nationalgeographic.com

Tiny marine snails known as sea butterflies take many forms, including heart-shaped, such as this species in Antarctica's Weddell Sea.

Clip Source: photography.nationalgeographic.com

A nearly translucent squid glows in reds and purples. There are nearly 300 different species of squid, found in oceans worldwide.

Clip Source: photography.nationalgeographic.com

A close-up of a bristleworm's head in Antarctica's Weddell Sea shows the tiny predator's trumpet-shaped mouth.

warning over blood taking method...

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 10:01:00 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: interesting research...

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

People who take blood have been warned not to get the patient to tightly clench their fist during the procedure.

UK researchers who examined 200,000 blood test results found clenching then relaxing the fist could raise potassium levels, potentially confusing results.

Raised potassium levels can indicate kidney or heart problems, the Annals of Clinical Biochemistry study said.

A UK expert said clenching was an outdated practice and staff taking blood should not ask patients to do so.

Vanessa Thurlow, a biochemistry expert and co-author of the report, first noticed a problem when GPs were questioning test results for a small number of patients.

When she retested them, their potassium levels were normal - but they had all started to clench their fists before the test.

Her study looks at 200,000 results from blood tests requested by GPs between 2002 and 2005. The updated training was offered in September 2003.

Don't go there!

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 18:16:39 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: had stumbled upon this website...very interesting..had clipped a bit..for more, you need to visit the site...

Clip Source: dontgothere.org

Don’t Go There!

Places in the world NOT to visit

Don't Go There!

Have you had a trip or vacation that just went horribly wrong? We want to know...if there is a hotel, airline, town, city, state or vacation spot you would avoid like the plague, let us know here.

Clip Source: dontgothere.org

At the Days Inn, I sat on the bed and it collapsed.

When the maintenance guy came, he lifted the bed and readjusted the bricks that was holding the bed up. Fortunately, we were only there one night and went on to a condo in Tampa the next night.

Written by: Tyler

Clip Source: dontgothere.org

Days Inn - Fresno, CA

July 17th, 2008

Clip Source: dontgothere.org

Monterey Inn, St. Augustine, FL

Clip Source: dontgothere.org

South Padre Island, Texas

The Idea Festival...

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:46:20 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: very interesting...wish I could participate!

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Aspen, high in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in what used to be the "Wild Wild West" is perhaps an unlikely setting for a festival of ideas.

But ideas also contributed to this resurgence: this high-altitude setting is also the home of some lofty thinking, hosted by the Aspen Institute - organisers of the Ideas Festival - which brings together politicians, academics, artists and people from the world of commerce for a week-long session of brain-storming and debate.

All of these people have come here with one central conviction. It is that ideas matter and especially so in a presidential election year. Men and women can change the world by thinking about problems and by approaching them in new ways.

Daily sessions typically begin at 7.45 in the morning: you have to be willing to take your dose of ideas early.

By Jonathan Marcus
Diplomatic correspondent, BBC News

Mother's junk food 'harms child'

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:17:37 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Eating a poor diet when pregnant or breastfeeding may cause long-lasting health damage to the child, animal studies suggest.

We always say: 'You are what you eat', but in fact it may also be true that you are what your mother ate

Dr Stephanie Bayol, one of the researchers, said: "It seems that a mother's diet whilst pregnant and breastfeeding is very important for the long-term health of her child.

Of particular concern was fat gathering around the major organs, which has been implicated in the development of type II diabetes.

However, there were interesting differences between the sexes, with the male offspring of unhealthy mothers having higher levels of insulin and normal blood sugar, while the reverse was true of females, who also tended to be fatter.

"Humans share a number of fundamental biological systems with rats, so there is good reason to assume the effects we see in rats may be repeated in humans."

Snail Mail gets a digital makeover! interesting

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 09:30:35 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

SEATTLE (Reuters) - The U.S. post office in Seattle's historic Pioneer Square district can see the future coming. In fact, it moved in next door.

At least, that's the bet Ron Wiener, CEO of Earth Class Mail, is making. His company seeks to transform a mail box at a fixed location into an digital inbox, like e-mails, that can be accessed on the Internet.

For a monthly fee, Earth Class Mail provides customers with a new mailing address. Letters and parcels sent to that address will be bar-coded, sized and scanned with the images uploaded onto the customer's online mailbox.

After logging-on, the customer chooses what to do with that mail: open and scan, shred, recycle, archive or forward it to another location.

Similar to how mobile phones have made it unnecessary to wait at home for an important phone call, Wiener said Earth Class Mail will forever change the notion of checking the mailbox for letters or parcels.

By Daisuke Wakabayashi

'Daydreaming' brain is coma clue

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:21:44 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: interesting observation...

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Researchers may have found a way to predict whether severely brain-damaged patients will regain consciousness.

A part of the brain which can stay active even in severely brain-damaged patients could offer a clue about the chances of recovery, they claim.

The Belgian team told a conference that activity within a "default network" in the brain appears to match the level of consciousness of the patient.

Some believe the default network is associated with daydreaming.

The findings were reported in New Scientist magazine.

The default network in the brain's cortex appears to be more active when the brain is not actively working on a goal - hence the proposed link with daydreaming.

Some evidence suggests that it helps get the brain ready for the next task, although this remains a controversial theory.

Some were "minimally conscious", while others were in a coma, or a persistent vegetative state (PVS). A final group were "brain dead".

Amazing toothpick sculptures...pics

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 04:56:45 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee

Clip Source: thecontaminated.com

Nice sculptures made with toothpicks. Those which you are going to see on pictures are made by Steven Backman. For some of those sculptures really needed some time. For the example, for this wooden boat it was needed about 6000 toothpicks, but for the beautiful, amazing, cool, remarkable golden gate bridge it was used 30000 toothpicks and took more then a two years for construction. But it was worth of it, don’t you think so? There are also a few more cool and interesting sculptures.

Everyday Mysteries

Sat, 24 May 2008 20:04:25 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.loc.gov

Find

Did you ever wonder why a camel has a hump? If you can really tell the weather by listening to the chirp of a cricket? Or why our joints make popping sounds? These questions deal with everyday phenomena that we often take for granted, but each can be explained scientifically.

Everyday Mysteries will help you get the answers to these and many other of life's most interesting questions through scientific inquiry. In addition, we will introduce you to the Library of Congress' rich collections in science and technology.

All of the questions presented on this Web site were asked by researchers and answered by librarians from the Library's Science Reference Services.

A piece of paradise to all...

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 10:18:50 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: These are the works of the Ukrainian Psyho studio made for "Madagascar" travel agency. The slogan of the agency was "Madagascar - a piece of the world", so Phyho literally cut the planet into pieces, each symbolizing a different kind of vacation. That's how the "pie concept" was born. Good appetite everyone!

Clip Source: meignorant.com

Turtle pie

Seafood pie

Cherry pie

Lamb pie

Frozen pie

Tags: interesting, inspirational.