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Beautiful

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 02:41:04 GMT

clipped by: wilfmills

Sea of colour

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:22:49 GMT

clipped by: michellezm

These wonderful pictures of some of the most beautiful creatures of the deep are the work of just one photographer, taken over the past 30 years. Richard Merritt has won a host of awards for what could be described as holiday snaps.

His full-time job is as a computing lecturer at the University of Plymouth, but he is also one of the world's most talented amateur underwater wildlife photographers.

Broody: A gold specs jawfish with its eggs

Technicolour battle: A harlequin shrimp and a starfish (left) and a harlequin filefish

Mane attraction: The dwarf lionfish hides on reefs to ambush prey

Sucker punch: The venom of the blue-ringed octopus can kill a man

Purple patch: Mating sea slugs lay an egg spiral

What a sight! A close-up reveals the sophisticated eye of a cuttlefish

A real slugger: This Indonesian sea slug has exposed gills and sensory 'horns', acquiring vivid colours from reef life it devours

Pink anemone fish are protected from their host's stings by a layer of mucus

Irony

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 21:47:20 GMT

clipped by: willhelm

Clip Source: www.filibustercartoons.com

Einstein, Newton displayed autistic traits

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:10:01 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: "Psychiatry tends to focus almost exclusively on the negative side of different forms of mental illness," Fitzgerald said in statement. "I want to show that psychiatric disorders can also have positive dimensions."

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton displayed symptoms of psychiatric disorders that may have been a key to their genius, a Dublin psychiatrist said.

Michael Fitzgerald, Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College, Dublin, said characteristics linked to autism spectrum disorders such as Asperger's syndrome are the same as those associated with creative genius, The Daily Telegraph said.

Fitzgerald, author of the book, "Genius Genes: How Asperger Talents Changed the World," said Enoch Powell and Charles de Gaulle both appear to have had Asperger's syndrome.

Speaking at a meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Academic Psychiatry, Fitzgerald said De Gaulle's Asperger's syndrome was critical to his success. He was aloof, had a massive memory, lacked empathy with other people, and was extremely controlling and dominating.

Isaac Newton was known to work non-stop for days and Einstein worked in a patent office because he was too disruptive to get a university job, the newspaper said.

Tags: einstein, newton, genius, creativity

Incoming

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:20:08 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: photo.net

5000 Year Old Artificial Eye

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:49:18 GMT

clipped by: ramsesemerson

Clip Source: farshores.org

The eyeball — the earliest artificial eye found — would have transfixed those who saw it, convincing them that the woman — thought to have been strikingly tall — had occult powers and could see into the future, archaeologists said.

Professor Costantini said the articial eye was clearly not intended to mimic a real eye but had “a special purpose . . . It must have glittered spectacularly, conferring on the woman a mysterious and supernatural gaze”. This would have been effective for someone who claimed to see into the future, such as a soothsayer or oracle.

A 5,000-year-old golden artificial eye that once stared out mesmerisingly from the face of a female soothsayer or priestess in ancient Persia has been unearthed by Iranian and Italian archaeologists.

Eternal Egypt

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:54:08 GMT

clipped by: Deepti
clipper's remarks: Neat!

Clip Source: www.eternalegypt.org

Welcome to Eternal Egypt, which brings to light over five thousand years of Egyptian civilization. Eternal Egypt is a living record of a land rich in art and history, people and places, myths and religions. The stories of Eternal Egypt are told using the latest interactive technologies, high-resolution imagery, animations, virtual environments, remote cameras, three-dimensional models and more.

There are many ways to begin your journey through Eternal Egypt. The guided tour is a quick way to experience the best that the site has to offer. You can also begin with one of the cultural highlights below, or make your own discoveries using one of the many other ways to explore.

Take a Guided Tour of Eternal Egypt

There are many ways to explore the artifacts, characters, and places that together comprise the wonder that is Eternal Egypt.

Tags: egypt, info, africa, history, culture

7 Pearls of Wisdom - Epictetus

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 21:16:20 GMT

clipped by: willhelm

Clip Source: www.positivityblog.com

If you are going your own way, prepare for reactions.

“If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”

You choose to be insulted.

“It is not he who reviles or strikes you who insults you, but your opinion that these things are insulting.”

Forget about what you think you know.

“It is impossible to begin to learn that which one thinks one already knows.”

Listen.

“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”

Appreciate what you have.

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Notice what is reflected.

“When you are offended at any man’s fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.”

Suffering is optional. And so is happiness.

“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.”

Origin of State Names

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 21:06:11 GMT

clipped by: willhelm
clipper's remarks: GEORGIA. Named after King George II of England, who charted the colony in 1732.

HAWAII. An English adaptation of the native word owhyhee, which means "homeland."

IDAHO. Possibly taken from the Kiowa Apache word for the Comanche Indians.

ILLINOIS. The French bastardization of the Algonquin word illini, which means "men."

INDIANA. Named by English-speaking settlers because the territory was full of Indians.

IOWA. The Sioux word for "beautiful land," or "one who puts to sleep."

KANSAS. Taken from the Sioux word for "south wind people," their name for anyone who lived south of Sioux territory.

KENTUCKY. Possibly derived from the Indian word kan-tuk-kee, meaning "dark and bloody ground." Or kan-tuc-kec, "land of green reeds", or ken-take, meaning "meadowland."

LOUISIANA. Named after French King Louis XIV.

MAINE. The Old French word for "province."

MARYLAND. Named after Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of English King George I.

Clip Source: www.neatorama.com

ALABAMA. Possibly from the Creek Indian word alibamo, meaning "we stay here."

ALASKA. From the Aleutian word alakshak, which means "great lands," or "land that is not an island."

ARIZONA. Taken either from the pima Indian words ali shonak, meaning "little spring," or from the Aztec word arizuma, meaning "silver-bearing."

ARKANSAS. The French somehow coined it from the name of the Siouan Quapaw tribe.

CALIFORNIA. According to one theory, Spanish settlers names it after a utopian society described in a popular 16th-century novel called Serged de Esplandian.

COLORADO. Means "red" in Spanish. The name was originally applied to the Colorado River, whose waters are reddish with canyon clay.

CONNECTICUT. Taken from the Mohican word kuenihtekot, which means "long river place."

DELAWARE. Named after Lord De La Warr, a governor of Virginia. Originally used only to name the Delaware River.

FLORIDA. Explorer Ponce de Leon named the state Pascua Florida - "flowery Easter"

The Stuff Of Myth And Religion

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:28:09 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Virgin birth, known to biologists as parthenogenesis (from the Greek, “parthen” meaning virgin or maiden and “genesis,” beginning), has been seen in other species over the years.

The big question these virgin births raise is this: If some females can get along without males, why does any species have males? The reason is simple. With virgin birth, hatchlings are simply genetic duplicates of the mother. In a world of clones, there would not be enough variation for populations to adapt. Virgin birth, then, is a great stopgap measure to ensure the survival of a species, but works against it in the long haul.

DIY religions do more harm than good

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:43:04 GMT

clipped by: michellezm

Clip Source: www.religionnewsblog.com

Rosemary Aird examined a possible correlation between new forms of spirituality and mental health as part of her University of Queensland PhD studies.

After surveying more than 3700 Brisbane-based 21-year-olds, she found spirituality and self-focused religions may undermine a person’s mental health.

“I had a look at two different beliefs - one was a belief in God, associated with traditional religions, and the other was the newer belief in a spiritual or higher power other than God,” Dr Aird said.

The research found non-traditional belief was linked with higher rates of anxiety, depression, disturbed and suspicious ways of thinking and anti-social behaviour.

New-age beliefs promote the idea of self-transformation, self-fulfilment and self-enlightenment

“Traditional religion tends to promote the idea of social responsibility and thinking of others’ interests, whereas the new-age movement pushes the idea that we can transform the world by changing ourselves.