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Great Minds Drink Alike

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:06:37 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Great Minds Drink Alike: Cafes Tapping Nation's Fascination with Science & Research

Major media from the Chicago Tribune to ABC News to Wired magazine and The New York Times have all reported on a new trend sweeping the U.S., Canada, and Europe: the rise of science cafes. Founded in London, the global network of Cafe Scientifique is a place where, for the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology. Meetings take place in cafes, bars, restaurants and even theatres, but always outside a traditional academic context.

"A lot of people come to see real live scientists — some of whom are extremely famous and prominent — and see how their brains work,"

The quarterly Cafes have tackled diverse issues such as biomechanics, the biology of gender, the big bang theory and global warming, but the basic formula stays the same

To find a Café Scientifique event near you visit their global cafe locations map.

Tags: mind, physics, education, life, science, cafe

An Orgasm Is All In The Mind

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 19:37:35 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: news.scotsman.com

IT’S a scientific fact: human brains are programmed for orgasms - with or without the actual sex act.

"It’s the same reward mechanism that encourages us to share our DNA," said Dr Lomas. "But it can be achieved without the physical act of copulation."

Only humans have this power to induce mental ecstasy, and it’s a complex set of responses that can be achieved by learned behavioural patterns or triggered by hyper-arousal during peak experiences, he says.

"At times of hyper-arousal, our brains are designed to freeload on the behavioural reward that encourages us to reproduce," he said. "And that is another name for orgasm."

Dr Cynthia McVey, a psychologist from Glasgow Caledonian University, said that from puberty onwards, achieving orgasm without sexual contact happens in our dreams.

Tags: inspired, by, rightys, comments, on, the, jodie, foster, clip

Clipcasts & The Shape of the Net to Come

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:31:14 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: It's amazing how the press out there, and most of the public, seems to have missed the big picture of what's going on here. They think this is about social networking and internet advertising. They are dead wrong.

We're all involved in a much bigger game now, and the pieces are the very building blocks of society's future.

I've clipped a few of the puzzle pieces together to make my point:

1. Cold War: Open v. Closed software

...leads to...

2. Show down between Cloud computing vs. PC software

...meanwhile...

3. Microsoft (PC OS) muscles in on Facebook (Internet Platform for Web Apps.)

...and on the other side...

4. Google (the world's leading search engine) muscles in on Firefox (the world's leading alternative web browser.)

...and then...

5.) Clipmarks, total wild card, leapfrogs over facebook into decentralized internet platforms with Clipcasts!

Something VERY VERY BIG is afoot!

Clip Source: www.iht.com

We're living in a cold war between open and closed systems

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Google gets ready to rumble with Microsoft

Google sees all of this happening on remote servers in faraway data centers, accessible over the Web by an array of wired and wireless devices — a setup known as cloud computing. Microsoft sees a Web future as well, but one whose center of gravity remains firmly tethered to its desktop PC software

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Microsoft buys into the new world of Facebook

Last week, Microsoft bought a tiny share of the Web site Facebook that gave it an overall value of some $15 billion.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Google casts a shadow as Firefox plans for the future

Looming over all of this competitive planning is Google, the search engine giant that has been writing most of the royalty checks that finance Firefox. That contract expires next year and no one knows whether Google will continue as an ally - or possibly emerge as a challenger.

Clip Source: biz.yahoo.com

Clipmarks Launches Version 3.0: Evolving from Centralized Community to Distributed Platform for Sharing Clips

Tags: clipmarks, clipcast, google, microsoft, facebook, firefox, future, open source, cloud computing, tribute to ornette coleman

Experts warn major Israel quakes fast approaching

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:39:06 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

LOD, Israel (AFP) - As if political instability and rampant insecurity in the Middle East are not worrying enough, Israeli experts are warning that a major earthquake could strike the region at any time.

Three minor quakes over the past month have served as a reminder that Israel and the West Bank sit atop one of the most sensitive fault lines in the world, where earthquakes have a history of causing havoc.

"We can say with certainty that an earthquake of a magnitude of six on the Richter scale could take place in the coming years," said Yefim Gitterman from the seismology department at the geophysical institute of Lod, near Tel Aviv.

"It can happen tomorrow or in years to come," he said. "Statistically, there is a major quake every 80 years."

Tags: earthquake, israel, middle east

Giant dinosaur found in iceblock

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 06:11:50 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: Who knows what else is beneath the ice

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Jennifer Viegas

Palaeontologists working on top a frozen Antarctic mountain have extracted a rock and ice fossil popsicle encasing the remains of a massive, previously unknown dinosaur.

The 190 million year old dinosaur weighed 4-5 tonnes and lived in a mucher warmer climate than exists in Antarctica today

They used jackhammers, rock saws and chisels at a punishing 4200 metres to unearth the dinosaur, which represents a new genus and species.

The dinosaur lived 190 million years ago during the early Jurassic at what is now Mount Kirkpatrick, near the Beardmore Glacier.

The species adds to a growing number of dinosaurs known to have roamed the now-polar continent.

The dinosaur is named Glacialisaurus hammeri, after the noted Antarctica fossil hunter Professor William Hammer, and was identified by a femur leg bone and an incomplete ankle and foot.

"Scaling the material up to similar-sized relatives would suggest that it was around [7 metres] long and weighed perhaps [4-5 tonnes],"

Tags: antarctica, paleontology, ice, dinosaur, frozen

Close Encounter with Mars

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:56:56 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: spaceweather.com

Ready your telescopes! On Tuesday evening, Dec. 18th, Mars makes its closest approach to Earth until the year 2016. At a distance of only 55 million miles, Mars outshines every star in the night sky (it is slightly brighter than Sirius) and draws attention to itself with its distinctive red color. Plus, it looks great through a backyard telescope:

Tags: astronomy, planets, backyard astronomy, mars, science

The Success of Savage Capitalism is the Failure of our Society

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 18:11:29 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: Consider these three articles puzzling over the US Economy. The dollar is in free-fall but the GDP is growing. The credit bubble is bursting, but production is up. American companies are making money hand over fist but the wealth gap is staggering.

So the question is: has the Regan/Bush agenda of Savage Anything-Goes Global Capitalism worked? Is America a better nation because of it?

The answer is no. We are not developing our economy, we are just generating wealth for the top 1%. We aren't improving our country so much as optimizing it for de facto feudalism.

Some one needs to give a real good answer as to why this surreal economic nightmare is a success story, or we need to finally admit that Savage Capitalism is motivated by nothing more than greed and wistful thinking.

It's time to get real about our country and our economy. Unless we can save the middle class, then we will be nothing but a crude fiefdom of modern Robber Barons.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Chasm widens between rich and poor in U.S.

The increase in incomes of the top 1 percent of Americans from 2003 to 2005 exceeded the total income of the poorest 20 percent of Americans, data in a new report by the Congressional Budget Office show.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Is the U.S. economy in recession?

Jason Furman

Looking only at standard macroeconomic statistics, you would think the U.S. economy was in very good shape. Gross domestic product has grown at a 4.4 percent annual rate in the last six months, well above the historical average.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Stephen S. Roach

The U.S. economy is slipping into its second post-bubble recession in seven years. Just as the bursting of the dot-com bubble led to a downturn in 2001 and '02, the popping of the housing and credit bubbles is doing the same right now.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

But, standing on the platform among my fellow members of the middle class in New York City, the thought is not so much about the gap between the rich and the poor, but between the relatively well-off and the fabulously wealthy.

Tags: capitalism, bush, faliure, regan, evil, wealth gap, robber barons, opression

Happily Single

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 04:07:37 GMT

clipped by: wurdzgurl

Clip Source: psychologytoday.com

Singlehood is no longer a state to be overcome as soon as possible," says social historian Stephanie Coontz.

Increasingly, individuals are finding singlehood preferable to being in an unsatisfactory relationship

Clip Source: psychologytoday.com

Pay attention to basic needs for meaningfulness and competence. Companionship is important, but it's not the only requisite of complete and satisfied adults.

Pursue your passions, whatever they may be.

Maintain contact with married friends. The soulmate ethic is no truer for them than for you—no one partner can satisfy all needs for companionship.

Cultivate a broad array of friendships. Companionship comes in many forms. You don't have to pour all your energy into one person.

Rising seas 'to beat predictions'

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:37:06 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Sea level rise is fuelled by melting ice in Greenland and Antarctica

The world's sea levels could rise twice as high this century as UN climate scientists have previously predicted, according to a study.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change proposes a maximum sea level rise of 81cm (32in) this century.

But in the journal Nature Geoscience, researchers say the true maximum could be about twice that: 163cm (64in).

They looked at what happened more than 100,000 years ago - the last time Earth was this warm.

The results join other studies showing that current sea level projections may be very conservative.

Sea level rise is a key effect of global climate change. There are two major contributory effects: expansion of sea water as the oceans warm, and the melting of ice over land.

Tags: climate change, sea levels, environment, science

Noam Chomsky on Anarchism, Marxism,and Future Hope

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:21:58 GMT

clipped by: sahara
clipper's remarks: Great interview (1995) Read the full text for his interesting insights.

Clip Source: www.zmag.org

Noam Chomsky is widely known for his critique of U.S foreign policy, and for his work as a linguist. Less well known is his ongoing support for libertarian socialist objectives. In a special interview done for Red and Black Revolution, Chomsky gives his views on anarchism and marxism, and the prospects for socialism now. The interview was conducted in May 1995 by Kevin Doyle.

What is called 'capitalism' is basically a system of corporate mercantilism, with huge and largely unaccountable private tyrannies exercising vast control over the economy, political systems, and social and cultural life, operating in close co-operation with powerful states that intervene massively in the domestic economy and international society.

That is dramatically true of the United States, contrary to much illusion.

More than ever, libertarian socialist ideas are relevant, and the population is very much open to them.

For an excellent collection of anarchist resources, please visit the All about Anarchism page.

Dan Fogelberg Has died SuziQ

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 01:33:10 GMT

clipped by: skwirlinator

Clip Source: www.gabbybabble.com

R.I.P. Dan Fogelberg

Sunday, December 16

Dear friends,

Dan left us this morning at 6:00am . He fought a brave battle with cancer and died peacefully at home in Maine with his wife Jean at his side. His strength, dignity and grace in the face of the daunting challenges of this disease were an inspiration to all who knew him.

Tags: music, dan fogelberg, ccr, dead

Blue Mountains -- Photo

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 16:45:47 GMT

clipped by: dorine
clipper's remarks: Gorgeous...

Clip Source: www.wunderground.com

Fog by habataku

Wednesday December 12, 2007 — Palmer, AK [Check Local Weather]

Tags: mountains, photo, beauty

Ancient Flood Triggered Climate Cooling

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:42:11 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

ScienceDaily (Dec. 17, 2007) — As the giant North American ice sheets melted an enormous pool of freshwater, many times larger than all of the Great Lakes, formed behind them. About 8400 years ago this pool of freshwater burst free and flooded the North Atlantic. About the same time, a sharp century long cold spell is observed around the North Atlantic and other areas. Researchers have often speculated that the cooling was the result of changes in ocean circulation triggered by this freshwater flood. The sudden addition of so much freshwater would have curtailed (suppressed) the sinking of deep water in the North Atlantic and as a consequence less warm water would be pulled north in the Gulf stream.

In a new study in Science (published online in Science Express 6 December) Kleiven and co workers confirm that the deep ocean was disturbed in just the way previous workers had speculated.

Tags: oceans, flood, climate change, prehistory, science

Battle Of The Loo

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 22:43:18 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

The poll of 518 married couples aged 30 to 50 by Matsushita Electric Works revealed that 49% of men urinate while sitting down, following complaints from their wives. Younger men were the most willing to change their habits it said.

The chances of spraying the seat are much higher when you stand up, and many women hate cleaning up the mess," a Matsushita spokeswoman said. "Many of the women we surveyed said they had asked their husbands to sit down when they urinate, and it looks like the message has got through."

The company now produces bigger toilets designed to ensure maximum comfort for men who sit.

But the trend towards sitting may be about more than cleanliness. One of the most popular short poems of this year was a office worker's bittersweet paean to the modern Japanese water closet: The Only Warmth in My Life Is the Toilet Seat.

Toilet etiquette is a serious topic in Japan, where new homes are routinely fitted with "washlet" toilets complete with heated seats and bidets.

Tags: im, at, a, loss, for, words