Clipmarks |

10 Reasons The Dark Ages Were Not Dark

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:07:58 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

I believe that we can safely say that the period of man’s history from 476 AD to 1000 AD is the most maligned of all.

Universities Are Born

The Classical Education (still used today in some schools) was the system used by the Universities which were created in the Early Middle Ages (the first in history).

Scientific Foundations Laid

While progress in Science was slow during this period in the West, the progress was steady and of a very high quality

’ [Source: Video or audio Lecture]

Carolingian Renaissance

The Carolingian Renaissance was a period of advancements in literature, writing, the arts, architecture, jurisprudence, liturgical and scriptural studies which occurred in the late eighth and ninth centuries.

Byzantine Golden Age

Religious Unity

a sticky topic

Algebra Arrived

Thanks to the learning of the Islamic people in the East, the world received its first book on algebra.

Art and Architecture

Fantastic Weather

Law Becomes Fair

Agricultural Boom

Coincidence photography

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:51:27 GMT

clipped by: willhelm

Clip Source: www.millionface.com

A Dying Breed

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:38:08 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: This is so sad Such striking beauty should be preserved.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

A Dying Breed

Herd Extinct: The Ankole cow could disappear within 50 years.

GERSHOM MUGIRA COMES from a long line of cattle-keepers. His people, the Bahima, are thought to have migrated into the hilly grasslands of western Uganda more than a thousand years ago, alongside a hardy breed of longhorns known as the Ankole. For centuries, man and beast subsisted there in a tight symbiotic embrace. Mugira’s nomadic ancestors wandered in search of fresh pasture for their cattle, which in turn provided them with milk. It is only within the last few generations that most Bahima have accepted the concept of private property. Mugira’s family lives on a 500-acre ranch, and one sunny day in November, the wiry 26-year-old showed me around, explaining, with some sadness but more pragmatism, why the Ankole breed that sustained his forebears for so many generations is now being driven to extinction.

Wikipedia opens online library on human genes

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:12:14 GMT

clipped by: Mohir

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

A group of US researchers laid out the foundations Monday for a new online library on human genetics stored within the existing framework of open-access encyclopedia Wikipedia.

"There are about 25,000 genes in the humane genome. We have 9,000 articles," said Andrew Su, one of those behind the "Gene Wiki" project from the Genomics Institute at the Novartis Research Foundation in San Diego, California.

"Our goal is to provide a uniform starting point for all genes," he said, noting that afterwards it was up to other scientists to add information and keep it up to date, as happens now with Wikipedia entries.

"The entire community will generate content and also oversee that content."

Tags: wikipedia, genes, genetics, library

Chocolate Cake In 5 Mins! A new take...

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:23:46 GMT

clipped by: carrerinyes
clipper's remarks: Clipped for the photos...!

Clip Source: www.dizzy-dee.com

Chocolate Cake In 5 Minutes!

Ingredients:

4 Tablespoons cake flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1 Egg
3 Tablespoons milk
3 Tablespoons oil
1 Mug

Instructions:

Mix flour, sugar and cocoa:

Spoon in 1 egg

Pour in milk and oil, and mix well

Put in microwave for 3 minutes on maximum power (1000watt)

Wait until it stops rising and sets in the mug

Tip contents out of mug onto saucer and enjoy!

15 Ways Nanotechnology is Making Life Better Today

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:17:34 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.jumpthecurve.net

Nanotechnology is expected to a $2.6 trillion market by 2015. At the heart of this big new sector is something very small—molecules. To understand how and why nanotechnology—which is defined as the manipulation of matter at the molecular level—matters, you can begin at home.

The Writing is Off-the-Wall

Behr and others are now using nanoparticles to produce anti-mildew paints and anti-graffiti paints. Another company is perfecting a nano-enhanced wall paint that blocks cellphone calls and, longer-term, researchers expect to create a nano-solar paint that can turn your wall and even your house into a giant solar cell.

Scratch-Free

Wipe Away Your Worries

Wrap Your Head Around This: The New Flat Will Be Round

A Germ-a-phobe’s Dream

Get Some Skin in the Game

Another Reason to Despise Cloudy Days

Less is More

So Long Skunky Beer?

Can You Hear Me Now?

No Blood Money

Nano, Nano

Get in the Game

Ice-fishing Just Won’t be the Same

You’ll Be On Your Way in No Time

Tags: nanotech, molecules

G8 Leaders ponder world hunger over 18-course feast

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:56:12 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: After Gordon Brown calls for prudence and thrift in the kitchen

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Summit that's hard to swallow - world leaders enjoy 18-course banquet as they discuss how to solve global food crisis

Just two days ago, Gordon Brown was urging us all to stop wasting food and combat rising prices and a global shortage of provisions.

But yesterday the Prime Minister and other world leaders sat down to an 18-course gastronomic extravaganza at a G8 summit in Japan, which is focusing on the food crisis.

The dinner, and a six-course lunch, at the summit of leading industrialised nations on the island of Hokkaido, included delicacies such as caviar, milkfed lamb, sea urchin and tuna, with champagne and wines flown in from Europe and the U.S.

G8 leaders discussing the world food crisis in Japan raise their glasses ahead of an 18-course dinner

On Sunday, Mr Brown called for prudence and thrift in our kitchens, after a Government report concluded that 4.1million tonnes of food was being wasted by householders.

Tags: g8, hunger

Teenager finds bat asleep in her bra

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:33:49 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

A teenager who thought movement in her underwear was caused by her vibrating mobile phone found a bat curled up asleep in her bra.

Abbie Hawkins, 19, of Norwich, had been wearing the bra for five hours when she plucked up the courage to investigate.

When she did, she found a baby bat in padding in her 34FF bra. The hotel receptionist said she was shocked but felt bad for removing the "cuddly" bat.

"It looked cosy and comfortable and I was sorry for disturbing it," she said.

She was sitting at her desk at work when she decided to investigate the strange movements in her underwear.

"I put my hand down my bra and pulled out a cuddly little bat.

"That shocked me very much at the time, but it scuttled off under the desk into the dark. I was shaking from head to toe.

"It looked quite cosy and comfortable in there so it was quite rude of me to take it out.

"I felt quite sorry for it. Perhaps I should have left it there and given it a good home.

Music and the Brain

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:15:59 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: Very interesting stuff, suggest to download the pdf file

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Over the last two months, Nature has published a series of essays about the latest scientific research into music, and now that the series is complete, it has been made available as a free PDF.

Among the authors of the essays are Aniruddh D. Patel, a theoretical neurobiologist at the Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, who discusses the brain's response to different varieties of music, and Laurel Trainor, director of the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind, who explains the neural basis of music perception.

Nature also has a special podcast featuring a discussion between science writer Philip Ball and music psychologist John Sloboda, both of whom contribute essays to the series.

Tags: music, brain, neuroscience

Nude girl art row flares in Australia

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:06:51 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

Nude girl art row flares in Australia

A photograph of a nude six-year-old girl on the cover of a high-brow Australian art magazine today sparked an uproar after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called it disgusting, infuriating liberal art critics.

The Art Monthly cover photo, featuring Olympia Nelson and taken by her mother Melbourne photographer Polixeni Papapetrou

This month's taxpayer-funded Art Monthly Australia magazine placed the photograph of the young dark-haired girl on the cover, sitting and with one nipple showing, to protest censorship of a recent photo exhibition featuring similarly naked children.

"I can't stand this stuff," said Rudd, a staunch Christian whose centre-left Labor government won a sweeping victory over conservatives last year, in part on a vow to reinvigorate Australia's small but influential arts community.

The Keepers Of The Moon

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:47:11 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

HOUSTON — In the lab, the Moon rocks look nondescript — dark gray basalt, a whitish mineral called anorthosite and mixtures of the two with crystals thrown in. Yet nearly 40 years after the Apollo astronauts brought the first rocks back to Earth, these pieces of the Moon are still providing scientists with new secrets from another world.

“We know the Big Bang happened about 14.5 billion years ago,” Mr. Allen said, “and this rock is a third that old. You will never see a solid piece of stuff in our solar system that is any older.”

“It’s hard to wrap your mind around a place where nothing ever happens,” Mr. Allen said. “But the Moon is that place.”

The samples — 2,200 of them — are kept in nitrogen-filled boxes in a stainless steel vault on the second floor of the 14,000-square-foot repository, and are transferred to other parts of the lab in airlocks. Technicians prepare shipments in glove boxes containing sterile tools and containers.

Fox News airs altered photos of NY Times reporters

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:45:35 GMT

clipped by: kmcolo
clipper's remarks: Does this sort of childish behavior drive viewership? I mean are there people who watch this channel simply to see what their latest infantile behavior will be? Because anyone who turns to this for news is being let down.

Clip Source: mediamatters.org

Summary: During a segment in which Fox & Friends co-hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade labeled New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg and editor Steven Reddicliffe "attack dogs," Fox News featured photos of Steinberg and Reddicliffe that appeared to have been digitally altered -- the journalists' teeth had been yellowed, their facial features exaggerated, and portions of Reddicliffe's hair moved further back on his head.

Tags: fox, entertainment, infotainment

looking for Kafka in Tel-Aviv ?!!

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:12:18 GMT

clipped by: syncopath
clipper's remarks: Hoffe died this year, leaving the inheritance to her two daughters. Researchers are hoping they will now be given access to the materials, which will help shed light on Kafka's biography and will likely spark new interest in the author in the academic and literary worlds.

Clip Source: www.haaretz.com

T.A. flat may hold key to holes in Kafka bio

Ceremonies were held around the world Thursday to commemorate what would have been the 125th birthday of Franz Kafka, the Prague-born writer who gained renown only after his death at 41.

Even today, 84 years after his death, many holes remain in his tragic life story. For years, researchers and academics have turned to a small apartment in Tel Aviv they believe houses the remainder of the author's estate.

The mysterious materials are part of the inheritance left by Kafka to his friend Max Brod, who published his writings in what was then Mandatory Palestine.

After Brod's death in Tel Aviv in 1968, the inheritance was passed to his secretary, Esther Hoffe, who for years refused to allow researchers to view them

She sold some of them at public auction, leaving her with significant profits. Others were smuggled out of Israel and placed in safekeeping in Switzerland

The Last Hero of Tiananmen

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:38:24 GMT

clipped by: kmcolo
clipper's remarks:

After I left his apartment, though, I decided it was unfair to expect the elderly doctor to continue standing up to the party. He had already achieved more than most and paid a price for it. I doubted the government would ever let him visit his daughter and grandson, but how could anyone expect him to give up that hope?There was only so much one man could do, and only so much a nation could ask of him.

Clip Source: www.pekingduck.org

Philip Pan, for years my favorite correspondent in Beijing (he left a few months ago), has written a devastating article about a letter written by a doctor who saw with his own eyes the victims of the massacre on the streets of Beijing n June 4, 1989 and described in detail the carnage he witnessed in the emergency room that night.

When I last visited him, he turned up the volume on his television set because he believed his apartment might be bugged, and he whispered that he was trying to avoid provoking the government. He said he still wanted to visit his daughter and grandson in California, and he believed that, if he behaved, the authorities would give him permission to go. As I listened to him speak, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of disappointment. The state had been unable to break Jiang, but it had succeeded in silencing him.

Tags: china, governance, dictatorship

McCain 'jokes' about killing Iranians

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:12:54 GMT

clipped by: jklugman
clipper's remarks: The joke:

Michael D. Shear of The Trail said:

Sen. John McCain hasn't had good luck joking about Iran. But he tried it again Tuesday.

Responding to a question about a survey that shows increased exports to
Iran, mainly from cigarettes, McCain said, "Maybe thats a way of killing them."

He quickly caught himself, saying "I meant that as a joke" as his wife, Cindy, poked him in the back.

Clip Source: matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com

John McCain once again "jokes" about his desire to kill Iranians. This time, the joke is a little bit more of a real joke, but the targets of his lust for killing foreigners are clearly ordinary Iranian civilians. If a major Iranian political leader were to repeatedly joke about bombing the United States and killing Americans, you can just imagine the shit-storm about how Iran isn't a normal country with normal interests, that it's run by irrational fanatics, appeasement won't work, etc.

Tags: iran, hypocrisy, john mccain