Clipmarks |

Earth From Above - Stunning!

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:09:48 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman
clipper's remarks: Another Boston Globe must see.

Earth From Above comes to NYC

Photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand will bring his work back to the United States - to New York City for the first time in 2009. Aiming to inspire people to think globally about sustainable living, Arthus-Bertrand has been photographing unique views of our planet, seen from the sky, since 1994 - and has produced an exhibit of over 150 4-ft. by 6-ft. prints which will be on display in New York City at the World Financial Center Plaza and along the Battery Park City Esplanade from May 1, 2009 to June 28, 2009. When completed in New York City, the Earth From Above exhibit will also move on to California in 2010. Photographs and captions all courtesy of Yann Arthus-Bertrand. (38 photos total)

bales of cotton

Sand dune in the heart of vegetation

Flock of sheep

Mountainous countryside

"Tree of life"

Dun Eochla fort on Inishmore Island

Iraqi tank graveyard

The Athabasca Oil Sands

Village of Bacolor under a layer of mud

Waste from the copper mine

graves

The Man Who Stuck His Head Inside a Particle Accelerator

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:32:59 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: Well if you are interested, go and read. Not for the faint of heart though...

Clip Source: www.neatorama.com

So with all the recent news about the Large Hadron Collider, many of you may have this nagging question: what, exactly, would happen if you stick your head in the particle accelerator?

Well, actually, we know the answer to that because someone did stick his head into a particle accelerator. Here’s the story of Anatoli Bugorski:

Tags: particle accelerator, strange accidents

Stories They Can't Tell You

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:13:49 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

The war on terror, which has now lasted longer than World War II, is producing a growing family of combat veterans. It’s a disconnected family, large and far-flung, but close in ways that battle-tested soldiers always are.

Everyone had a transition story. Shifting from “hunter-killer mode” to husband-student mode is so sudden, it’s insane. One day you’re in Baghdad, the next you’re in Atlanta, passing rows of cheering civilians at Hartsfield airport. Then you get on with your life. The price is steep, in sleepless nights, troubled consciences and buried anger.

People have no idea, the veterans said.

Yes it is. Do you want to hear about it? No, said Mr. Knudson, you probably don’t.

“We did a good job,” he said. “The irony of service is, we did a good job, and came back different. This is what it does to humans.

One veteran told me he was haunted by the realization that any trauma he suffered was multiplied a hundredfold for the Iraqis he shot at.

Is Aging an Accident of Evolution? Scientists Say "Yes"

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:06:40 GMT

clipped by: einbar

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

"Everyone has assumed we age by rust. But how do you explain animals that don't age? Some tortoises lay eggs at the age of 100, there are whales that live to be 200 and clams that make it past 400 years."

Prevailing theory of aging challenged by Stanford Universit

Their discovery contradicts the prevailing theory that aging is a buildup of tissue damage similar to rust. The Stanford findings suggest specific genetic instructions drive the process. If they are right, science might one day find ways of switching the signals off and halting or even reversing aging.

“Everyone has assumed we age by rust,” Kim said. “But then how do you explain animals that don’t age?”

“A free radical doesn’t care if it’s in a human cell or a worm cell,” Kim said.

If aging is not a cost of unavoidable chemistry but is instead driven by changes in regulatory genes, the aging process may not be inevitable. It is at least theoretically possible to slow down or stop developmental drift.

Artist Builds Temple of Science

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:25:58 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

At a time when the gulf between religion and science is growing ever greater, an artist has erected a temple for scientific worship.

Jonathon Keats, designer of the petri dish God, built The Atheon to get people thinking about what a scientific religion (or religious science?) would look and feel like.

Keats' conception of that idea took shape as a two-story building complete with stained-glass windows patterned after cosmic microwave background radiation and a liturgy based on the sounds of the Big Bang. The Atheon opened Sept. 27 at the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley, California.

But, could science replace religion?

The question has intrigued both rationalists frustrated at the persistence of what they see as superstitious dogma, and religious believers — as well as all-purpose skeptics — unwilling to promote science, with its mixed and messy history, to a position of absolute authority.

Tags: science, art, religion

Cannabis less harmful than drinking, smoking: report

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:13:04 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: The British government is pressing for cannabis to be re-classified in law as a Class B drug compared with its current, less serious, Class C classification.

Clip Source: www.camizone.com

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Cannabis is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, according to a report by a British research charity Thursday, which called for a "serious rethink" of drug policy.

The Beckley Foundation, a charity which numbers senior British and other academics among its advisors, said banning cannabis has no impact on supply and turns users into criminals.

"Although cannabis can have a negative impact on health, including mental health, in terms of relative harms it is considerably less harmful than alcohol or tobacco," says the report by the Foundation's Global Cannabis Commission.

The Beckley Foundation, a charitable trust, claimed only two deaths worldwide have been attributed to cannabis, while alcohol and tobacco use together kill an estimated 150,000 people in Britain alone.

Many of the harms associated with cannabis use are the result of prohibition itself, particularly the social harms arising from arrest and imprisonment," it said.

Tags: canabis, drug abuse

Saudi Cleric Favours One-Eye Veil

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:18:51 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: Two eyes are too seductive? Ah, com'on! Why not just ban women outright? Problem solved! Tss!!

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Saudi cleric favours one-eye veil

A Muslim cleric in Saudi Arabia has called on women to wear a full veil, or niqab, that reveals only one eye.

The two-eyed look remains too seductive for Sheikh Habadan

Sheikh Muhammad al-Habadan said showing both eyes encouraged women to use eye make-up to look seductive.

The question of how much of her face a woman should cover is a controversial topic in many Muslim societies.

The niqab is more common in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, but women in much of the Muslim Middle East wear a headscarf which covers only their hair.

Sheikh Habadan, an ultra-conservative cleric who is said to have wide influence among religious Saudis, was answering questions on the Muslim satellite channel al-Majd.

Tags: small wiener syndrome

With so many conflicting messages, it’s hard to know what’s “green” and what is not

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:36:59 GMT

clipped by: einbar

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

no matter how we disguise environmentally harmful practices and smooth them over with positive words that ease the conscience, such practices will nonetheless continue to have a negative impact on the planet and the quality of life of future generations. In other words, a rose by any other name is still a rose.

With so many conflicting messages, it’s hard to know what’s “green” and what is not these days

The majority of the general public is willing to make sacrifices to offset global warming, or at least according to polls

most of us don’t have a clear picture of what will actually end up doing the most good, and how to go about it

there is no clear consensus about what’s “good”

even when we do know, most of us prefer not to think about it or find a clever way to rationalize our decisions.

Bandura explains that rather than continually attempting to disguise our actions, society would be better off “switching on our environmental conscience” to save the world.

Magical Thinking

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:12:45 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: "Although I'm a rational man, I'm a scientist, I'm studying this phenomenon, there are some events in your life that you cannot explain rationall"

Clip Source: beinart.org

Clip Source: www.psychologytoday.com

Even hard-core skeptics can't help but find sympathy in the fabric of the universe—and occasionally try to pull its strings.

Emotional stress and events of personal significance push us strongly toward magical meaning-making.

"There are many layers of belief," psychologist Carol Nemeroff says. "And the answer for many people, especially with regard to magic, is, 'Most of me doesn't believe but some of me does.'

Clip Source: www.psychologytoday.com

What makes something sacred is not its material makeup but its unique history

Clip Source: www.psychologytoday.com

there's a key chemical involved in magical thinking. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter that the brain uses to tag experiences as meaningful, floods the brains of schizophrenics, who see significance in everything, but merely trickles in many depressives, who struggle to find value in everyday life

Clip Source: www.psychologytoday.com

Although I'm a rational man, I'm a scientist, I'm studying this phenomenon, there are some events in your life that you cannot explain rationall

Our choices go to the core of who we are - Accounting for Taste

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:59:26 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: "We consume books, movies, music, and visual art primarily to fulfill the internal emotional needs that are fundamental to our personalities. But we also make choices about art based on a desire to carve out identities for ourselves—to articulate the stories of our lives. By the same token, we look for those stories in others"

Clip Source: beinart.org

Clip Source: www.psychologytoday.com

Our choices in books, movies, music, and art go to the core of who we are. What your tastes reveal about you.

Clip Source: www.psychologytoday.com

"Openness correlates to a great range of tastes," explains Stephen Dollinger, a psychologist at Southern Illinois University. "These individuals are more cultured and have a greater conception of what makes great and interesting art."

Less open people, meanwhile, may be stuck on the tastes of their youth, watching nostalgic movies on Nick at Night and listening to classic rock.

Clip Source: www.psychologytoday.com

If our taste preferences reflect our personalities, does this mean we can accurately judge others based on their tastes?

Personality types are not mutually exclusive—most of us are a complex combination of many traits. An open-minded taste hunter, for instance, may also have an extrovert's need to seek sensation.

perhaps we should view the differences in tastes between us and others not as grounds for disagreement, but as opportunities for interpersonal revelation

Calming your thoughts through mindfulness

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:09:33 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: "We want to move into a place where the outside world will do whatever it's going to do without us going through the roller coaster of emotions," Rogers says. "We want to maintain this more alive, vigilant, present way of being that is somewhat independent of how things are going."

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Our worries. They're crescendoing like the finale of Beethoven's "Ninth": Bailouts, buyouts. Recession, depression.

Enter the meditative practice of mindfulness. Born of Buddhist roots, it's increasingly recognized as a measure to calm the mind's chatter and elevate the brain's thinking and organizational processes.

"The uncertainty of tomorrow creates a lot of the angst or discomfort," says Scott Rogers, director of the Institute for Mindfulness Studies in Miami Beach. "People are looking more and more to bring a little bit of 'ahhh ...' Not just stress reduction, but allowance and acceptance."

Mindfulness is built around the premise of disengaging from overly emotional responses and extraneous thoughts that clutter the mind's ability to think clearly. By using techniques such as breathing, visual imagery and meditation to slow down and focus on the present, the theory goes, a person can tap into a higher level of awareness

Simply put, it's going from worrier to warrior

Tags: calm, thoughts, mindfulness

McCain in 2000: Attack ads are sign of no vision

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:06:02 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: New DNC response ad

Clip Source: sage

MCCAIN: "Uh, I, I just have to rely on the good judgment of the voters not to buy into these negative attack ads. Sooner or later, people are going to figure out if all you run is negative attack ads you don't have much of a vision for the future or you're not ready to articulate it." [The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, 2/21/2000]

CHYRON: McCain Campaign's Ad Spending Now Nearly 100 Percent Devoted to Attack Ads [Talking Points Memo, 10/3/08]

Tags: mccain

AP: Palin attack "exaggerated" or "outright false"

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 07:01:44 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: No evidence shows Ayers and Obama were "pals" or even close when they worked on community boards years ago

Clip Source: ap.google.com

In her character attack, Palin questions Obama's association with William Ayers, a member of the Vietnam-era Weather Underground. Her reference was exaggerated at best if not outright false. No evidence shows they were "pals" or even close when they worked on community boards years ago and Ayers hosted a political event for Obama early in his career.

Obama, who was a child when the Weathermen were planting bombs, has denounced Ayers' radical views and actions.

"Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country," Palin told a group of donors in Englewood, Colo. A deliberate attempt to smear Obama, McCain's ticket-mate echoed the line at three separate events Saturday.

Obama isn't above attacking McCain's character with loaded words

but not on the level of suggesting that a fellow senator is un-American and even a friend of terrorists.

Tags: palin, lies