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Music tuned to your mood

Tue, 27 May 2008 00:44:50 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: This is fun, go to the website to try it.

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Tags: music, experimental

The Dragon`s Gift

Mon, 26 May 2008 10:42:50 GMT

clipped by: Fast T friend
clipper's remarks: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan, a traveling exhibition. More photos at source.

Clip Source: sify.com

Honolulu: Assistant curator John Johnston scaled steep cliffs for seven hours to reach a bronze sculpture of a Buddha at a small Himalayan monastery 13,000 feet (3,962 metres) above sea level. And where there was no trail, he and two companions grabbed trees to pull themselves up the mountain.

The gilt bronze figure is now one of the key pieces in ``The Dragon`s Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan,`` a rare display of centuries-old sculptures and paintings that have never before left the remote, mountainous kingdom.

Even in Bhutan, the public rarely gets to see the rich collection of work now showing at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. The exhibit is due to travel to New York, San Francisco, Europe and possibly Singapore over the next two years.

Tags: bhutan, art, dragon, gift

Mars scientists ponder polygon mystery

Tue, 27 May 2008 17:54:48 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: space.newscientist.com

Scientists working with images from the Mars Phoenix mission are baffled by an unexpected difference between what they thought they would see and what Phoenix is now showing them.

The difference suggests that the northern plains of Mars may be a more complicated and active environment than previously imagined.

Does this sharp-edged polygon indicate recent change on Mars? (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/U of Arizona)

Among the most spectacular images thus far is a colour mosaic of the terrain looking out from the northward side of the lander. It clearly shows the so-called "polygons" that are typical features of this region.

There's just one problem: the polygons are too small.

During a press briefing yesterday, principal investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson, US, said that preliminary estimates suggest the polygons in the foreground of the image are about 1.5 to 2.5 metres across.

Tags: mars, science

Solving the mystery of Nazca Lines

Mon, 26 May 2008 22:00:10 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.dailyindia.com

Washington, May 23: Two British archaeologists are trying to solve the mystery of the Nazca Lines in Peru by locating and measuring the lines with high-precision GPS, photographing the distribution of 1,500-year old pottery, and working out the chronological sequence of overlying lines and designs.

Funded by the Anglo-Peruvian Cultural Association in Lima, their research hopes to unlock the purpose of the dazzling but confusing array of desert drawings.

Professor Ruggles and Dr Saunders agree with other experts that some lines were pathways across the desert, others had a more religious significance, while some appear associated with desert scars caused by flash-floods, and are probably linked to the veneration of water.

According to Dr Saunders, "Identifying which lines came first, whether they were spiritual or functional, and exactly how they were used during a thousand years of prehistory is a great challenge."

Tags: archaeology, south america, peru, nazca, mystery

FLOW: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE

Mon, 26 May 2008 21:16:10 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: Steps Toward Enhancing the Quality of Life)

Mihaly Csiksczentmihalyi

Clip Source: web.ionsys.com

One must particularly achieve control over instinctive drives to achieve a healthy independence of society, for as long as we respond predictably to what feels good and what feels bad, it is easy for others to exploit our preferences for their own ends.

The knowledge - or wisdom - one needs for emancipating consciousness is not cumulative. It is not a cognitive skill and as well as intelligence requires commitment of emotions and will. It is not enough to know how to do it, one must do it consistently and it is a painfully slow process to modify our own habits and desires.

Eight Components of Enjoyment

Confronting tasks that we have a chance of completing.

2. Concentration.

Concentration is possible because the task has clear goals.

4. Task provides immediate feedback.

A deep, effortless involvement removes from awareness the worries and frustrations of everyday life.

Enjoyable experiences allow one to exercise a sense of control over one’s actions.

Tags: life, quality, steps

Gut bugs may have guided the evolution of life

Tue, 27 May 2008 12:05:42 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: They found more than 20,000 different kinds of bacteria. But the closer two species were on the tree of life, the more bacterial species they had in common living in their guts.

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

The history of evolution could be written in an animal's excrement. A new analysis of faeces from dozens of mammals, including humans, suggests that gut-dwelling microbes might shape animal evolution.

Trillions of mostly harmless bacteria and other microbes inhabit the guts of all mammals, outnumbering the number of mammalian cells by 10 to one.

Now, a census of the microbes living in 60 mammals, from cows to kangaroos to capybaras, has found that closely related animals and those with similar diets tend to have the same species of gut microbes.

Scientists have long known that our stomachs team up with harmless bugs, but we are only beginning to appreciate the breadth of bacterial diversity in our bellies. By reading the chemical letters of a molecule called 16s ribosomal RNA – a cousin to DNA – researchers can catalogue bacterial species and conduct a rough census of their numbers.

Tags: evolution

Religion is a product of evolution, software suggests

Tue, 27 May 2008 14:31:51 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: Another contends that religion benefited our ancestors. Rather than being a by-product of other brain functions, it is an adaptation in its own right. In this explanation, natural selection slowly purged human populations of the non-religious.
To determine if it was possible for religion to emerge as an adaptation, Dow wrote a simple computer program that focuses on the evolutionary benefits people receive from their interactions with one another.

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

God may work in mysterious ways, but a simple computer program may explain how religion evolved

By distilling religious belief into a genetic predisposition to pass along unverifiable information, the program predicts that religion will flourish. However, religion only takes hold if non-believers help believers out – perhaps because they are impressed by their devotion.

"If a person is willing to sacrifice for an abstract god then people feel like they are willing to sacrifice for the community," says James Dow, an evolutionary anthropologist at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, US, who wrote the program – called Evogod (download the code here).

Dow is by no means the first scientist to take a stab at explaining how religion emerged. Theories on the evolution of religion tend toward two camps. One argues that religion is a mental artefact, co-opted from brain functions that evolved for other tasks.

Tags: religion, human, brain

Nude Bowling: No Shirt Required

Tue, 27 May 2008 01:40:39 GMT

clipped by: gingembre
clipper's remarks: Go to the article to view the video, as it would not clip; it is definitely entertaining and informative!

Lots of skin, lots of fun, but few inhibitions. Oh, to live life so freely and naturally...

Clip Source: www.theglobeandmail.com

Nude bowling: No shirt required

Members of a B.C. naturist club have decided to venture well beyond skinny-dipping

there's something undeniably weird about a bowling alley filled with naked people. Think of nudists, and images of being outdoors, communing with nature, sunbathing and swimming come to mind. Yes, we know that some people take pleasure in vacuuming their own homes starkers, but bowling?

Entrance is for members only and they are expected to follow club rules regarding no gawking or lewd behaviour. Genital piercings are banned. They sip iced tea and munch Oreo cookies, are jolly and supportive, and sit back down on their own towels when they've taken their shots. It's a bit like a church social, but with skin.

Men outnumber women by as many as 3 to 1

The Massachusetts-based Sunchasers club has held an annual tournament for almost 20 years, and Cleveland's Northcoast Naturists have met twice a month for nearly a decade to bowl naked.

Tags: bowling, nudity, naturists

Tate Modern first time presents six Street Artists

Tue, 27 May 2008 00:42:28 GMT

clipped by: syncopath
clipper's remarks: much more on street art at source

Clip Source: www.lifeinthefastlane.ca

In an anti-establishment movement that’s taking the art world by storm, 6 of the world’s most famous Street Artists whose work is intricately connected to the urban environment were commissioned to paint the iconic river façade of Tate Modern exterior walls with 45 foot (15 meter) high towering artworks for the first major public museum display of Street Art in London.

Work of Brazilian artist Nunca exhibited on the facade of the Tate Modern. Photo Getty

All 6 artists are represented in major collections around the world and regularly shown in gallery exhibitions but their work began in public urban spaces and remains indebted to Street Art and graffiti traditions.

JR from Paris, France. Photo Jason Delport

“It is the first time that the Tate Modern is using the outside walls of the building to do an exhibition, and it is the first time this institution is working with ‘Street Art’ too.”

Street Artist Blu

Os Gemeos from Sao Paulo

Blu

Artist JR

“Color Spread”

Project WOMEN ARE HEROES. Photo JR

How to Break All the Rules

Mon, 26 May 2008 21:24:37 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: “Tell me, Rabo–” said Slazinger, “if I put on that same paint with the same roller, would the picture still be a Karabekian?”

“Absolutely,” I said, “provided you have in reserve what Karabekian has in reserve.”

“Like what?” he said.

“Like this,” I said. There was dust in a pothole in the floor, and I picked up some of it on the balls of both my thumbs. Working both thumbs simultaneously, I sketched a caricature of Slazinger’s face on the canvas in thirty seconds.

“Jesus!” he said. “I had no idea you could draw like that!”

“You’re looking at a man who has options,” I said.

Clip Source: www.lifehack.org

Rules, they say, are meant to be broken. Not all the time, of course — we are, after all, trying to have a society here. But while rules help, most of the time, to create an orderly and well-regulated society, sometimes their lack of flexibility hinders our creativity, and thus our ability to solve the problems that confront us.

Months ago, I wrote a post about improvisation advising readers to “Learn the rules, so you can break them.” Too often, people think that the breakability of rules means that they should be broken, early and often — and if that’s the case, it’s not worth bothering to learn them at all.

That’s not the case; in fact, it’s a pretty simple matter to tell the consistent rule-breaking of the ignorant and inexperienced from the proficient rule-breaking of the master. The master’s rule-breaking gains strength from her or his understanding of what the rules do, how they work, and why they are, most of the time, crucial.

Tags: rules, breaking, mastership

Uuuugh, i HATE mosquitos!

Tue, 27 May 2008 11:51:46 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: yuck yuck yuck!

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

How Britain is about to be invaded by tiger mosquito carrying 20 diseases

If you hear a telltale whine then spot this striped insect inching towards your arm, be very concerned.

For this is the Asian tiger mosquito, which can carry a host of potentially deadly diseases - and it could be heading our way.

The mosquito has already established itself in Northern Italy, where it has transmitted chikungunya fever to scores of victims.

It has also been detected in a dozen other European countries including Germany, France and the Netherlands.

Britain could be the next to be invaded, say scientists at the Government's Health Protection Agency at Porton Down in Wiltshire.

An HPA study warns that "widespread establishment" of the tiger mosquito across England and Wales is possible in the warm, damp conditions of the British summer.

Because the tiger mosquito lays its eggs in water, it is thought it could survive in small pools that collect in tyres sent to Britain on container ships from Asia.

Tags: bugs, insects, scary, disease

Solar iPhone

Tue, 27 May 2008 03:36:11 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: Just another step in the evolution to a new power industry. The power industry is in the very early stages of change that's similar to the change in telecommunications that has occurred over the past 20 years. I'm extremely excited to be following it (and clipping it).

Clip Source: www.pcworld.com

Employees at Apple have filed a patent for integrating solar cells into portable devices by placing them underneath the layers of a touch-sensitive display, according to the filing.

Solar power could help make devices truly portable, freeing from the need for wires to connect them to a power supply.

Tags: alternative energy, iphone, technology, solar

The Global Consciousness Project

Mon, 26 May 2008 18:52:51 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: noosphere.princeton.edu

The Global Consciousness Project, also called the EGG Project, is an international, multidisciplinary collaboration of scientists, engineers, artists and others. This website introduces methods, technology, and empirical results under the "Scientific Work" menu below, and gives background, interpretations, and implications under "Aesthetic View".

We have been collecting data from a global network of random event generators since August, 1998. The network has grown to about 65 host sites around the world running custom software that reads the output of physical random number generators and records a 200-bit trial sum once every second, continuously over months and years. The data are transmitted over the internet to a server in Princeton, NJ, USA, where they are archived for later analysis. Individual data create a random tapestry of color. The dot below indicates their global coherence.

Tags: consciousness, global, network, data, random

The door to hell : in Uzbekistan

Tue, 27 May 2008 09:57:38 GMT

clipped by: boozich
clipper's remarks: there is also a video at the website

Clip Source: englishrussia.com

This place in Uzbekistan is called by locals “The Door to Hell”. It is situated near the small town of Darvaz.

Once the geologists were drilling for gas. Then suddenly during the drilling they have found an underground cavern, it was so big that all the drilling site with all the equipment and camps got deep deep under the ground. None dared to go down there because the cavern was filled with gas. So they ignited it so that no poisonous gas could come out of the hole, and since then, it’s burning, already for 35 years without any pause. Nobody knows how many tons of excellent gas has been burned for all those years but it just seems to be infinite there

And the video:

Sydney Pollack dies of cancer at age 73

Tue, 27 May 2008 04:20:24 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: Great artist.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Academy Award-winning director Sydney Pollack, a Hollywood mainstay who achieved commercial success and critical acclaim with the gender-bending comedy "Tootsie" and the period drama "Out of Africa, has died. He was 73.

Pollack died of cancer Monday afternoon at his home in Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles, surrounded by family, said his publicist, Leslee Dart. He had been diagnosed with cancer about nine months ago, Dart said.

Pollack, who occasionally appeared on the screen himself, worked with and gained the respect of Hollywood's best actors in a long career that reached prominence in the 1970s and 1980s.

"Sydney made the world a little better, movies a little better and even dinner a little better. A tip of the hat to a class act," actor George Clooney said in a statement issued by his publicist.

"He'll be missed terribly," Clooney said.

Tags: entertainment, hollywood, artist