Clipmarks |

Yep again!

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:45:06 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: So true...so very damn true!

You wonder why our military is stretched too thin...why we need Asia and the Middle East to bail out our banks...why we haven't embraced alternatives to oil like Asia and Europe have...why we haven't caught Bin Laden...

Maybe it's because we keep electing people that seem cool to hang out with but aren't capable of leading the world's most powerful nation.

How about George Bush and Sarah Palin start a tv show called "politicians that seem fun to hang out with" and we start electing more boring but gifted people as President.

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

For America to make a decision as grave as this one - while the planet boils and with the US fighting two wars - on the trivial basis that a hockey mom is likable and seems down to earth, would be to convey a lack of seriousness, a fleeing from reality, that does indeed suggest a nation in, to quote Weisberg, "historical decline". Let's not forget, McCain's campaign manager boasts that this election is "not about the issues."

Tags: politics, election, obama, mccain, palin

Gandhi Pills? Psychiatrist Argues for Moral Performance Enhancers

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:37:44 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: What do you think? Do you already use some substance -- say, marijuana or a prescription painkiller -- not for how it makes you feel, but how it influences your behavior toward other people? Do you consider this "moral pharmacology"?

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

Could the right drug make you a better person?

A British psychiatrist raises and argues for that possibility in a new paper in a prominent psychiatry journal. In fact, he says that in many clinical settings, moral steroids are already being used.

"Within many clinical encounters, there may already be a subtle form of moral assistance going on, albeit one we do not choose to describe in these terms," writes Sean Spence of the University of Sheffield in the British Journal of Psychiatry."

Performance-enhancing drugs are generally used to enhance performance in competitive settings, like sports. On Wired Science, we've spent a lot of time looking at ways to increase cognitive performance. But what Spence suggests is that science should be searching for drugs to make people more "humane" not just smarter.

"Hence, if we ask the question 'Can pharmacology help to enhance human morality?' then we should answer 'yes,' that sometimes it can be used as a means to this end," Spence writes.

Tags: brain, phamacology, ethics

Emperor's New Clothes: Palin Pork Public

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 05:12:30 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Over the last couple days, every newspaper and network in America has disproven Sarah Palin's claim that she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere. Yet just moments ago at a campaign rally in Lebanon, Ohio, she repeated her familiar refrain on the bridge, claiming she told the federal government, "Thanks, but no thanks.

Clip Source: www.motherjones.com

Over the last couple days, every newspaper and network in America has disproven Sarah Palin's claim that she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere. Yet just moments ago at a campaign rally in Lebanon, Ohio, she repeated her familiar refrain on the bridge, claiming she told the federal government, "Thanks, but no thanks."

There appears to be no accountability here; the McCain campaign will trot out Palin to repeat her talking points no matter how many times the press reports that Palin campaigned for governor as a supporter of the bridge and only opposed it when it became obvious the federal government was going to cancel its funding.

Today, states receive roughly $50 per person in earmark funds from the federal government. Alaska gets a stunning $506 per person

small towns in Alaska never sought federal earmarks until Palin pioneered the tactic, even using an Abramoff-connected lobbyist to get them

Tags: palin, taxes, politics

Creature Survives Naked in Space

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:07:03 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: This is one trick we humans should know how to do.

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

A tiny, six-legged critter that can suspend all biological activity in extreme environments survived a journey to space that would have instantly killed any human and most other life forms.

In the first test of its kind, researchers exposed the hardy segmented creatures, called "water bears," to the open and harsh vacuum of space, with all its deadly radiation, on a spacecraft in low-Earth orbit. Many of them survived.

The radiation resistance was most surprising to scientists.

Most survived exposure to the vacuum and cosmic rays, and some even survived the exposure to the deadly levels of solar UV radiation, which are more than 1,000 times higher than on the surface of the Earth.

The survivors "could reproduce fine after their space trip," according to a statement released today by Cell Press, the journal that published results of the test.

How the post-flight tardigrades could do it "remains a mystery," the researchers write.

Tags: space, biology, microrganisms

Free education on the Internet - Courses, tutorials, and skill-building

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:00:40 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: "Courses, tutorials, and skill-building activities for today's most important vocational and academic discipline

Clip Source: www.free-ed.net

Free education on the Internet

Clip Source: www.free-ed.net

Humanities

Modern languages, philosophy, critical thinking, grammar & composition ...

Clip Source: www.free-ed.net

Science

Astronomy, physics, earth sciences...

Clip Source: www.free-ed.net

Astronomy

Biology (Life Sciences)

Chemistry

Earth Sciences

Physics

Clip Source: www.free-ed.net

Health Care

Anatomy and physiology, medical terminology, dental assisting, nursing...

Clip Source: www.free-ed.net

GED & College Prep

Prepare for your GED and get ready for a successful college career.

Electricity & Electronics

Basic DC/AC electronics, digital, Endless Examples and Exercises™ ...

Computers & Information Technology

Computer programming, databases, office applications...

Business, Marketing, and Economics

Management, entrepreneurship, sales, economics...

Building & Construction

Building construction, plumbing, electrical, masonry...

Aviation

Critical first courses for aviation technicians and mechanics. The main page also provides information about aviation careers and opens a portal to Second Life^® when aviation enthusiasts can design, build, or simply buy-and-fly aircraft.

Automotive

Clip Source: www.free-ed.net

Five Mysterious Skulls

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:59:20 GMT

clipped by: Sheroug

Clip Source: www.cultcase.com

The Horned Skull

Clip Source: www.cultcase.com

Pennsylvania in the 1880s

human skulls were unearthed

were anatomically correct, except for the anomaly of their projections

Starchild Skull

found in a mine tunnel, 100 miles Southwest of Chihuahua

“fibers” in the bone of the skull and a reddish residue, neither of which are known or recorded to exist prior to the discovery

Peruvian Skulls

originate from Peru

Similar skulls have been excavated in Mexico

Suggestions that the skulls were altered by a process of binding the skull in infancy

have been rejected

Robert Connolly Discoveries

was researching the paper “In Search of Ancient Wisdom" when he came across these intriguing skulls

Bulgarian Skull

discovered in 2001, the Rodopi Mountains, Bulgaria

Tags: skulls, human, mysterious

Brain plasticity is used to treat phantom pain

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:41:12 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: The brain, uncharted yet in its ways to be shaped, much more to come....

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Phantom Limb Cure: Retraining the Brain

how our body feels—the awareness we have of our physical self—is constructed by the brain. It depends on the maps of the body that are held within our brain and emerges as a conscious output.

phantom limb pain, which involves feeling pain in a limb after it has been amputated, the altered maps may in fact contribute to the pain. One way to treat such pain is by directly training the brain to correct the distorted maps.

Another way to treat such pains is by instructing the patient to imagine making certain movements with the phantom limb. Although we don’t know how such motor imagery works in the brain, one possibility is that it, too, corrects the distorted maps.

Simply thinking about body parts activates their virtual counterpart—one can’t feel one’s body without using neurons that represent it.

The study also corroborates a growing literature on the lability of the human brain

Tags: brain

The moral collapse of the Republican Party

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:17:54 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "For Republicans, there is no longer any moral taboo whatsoever against lying outright... So what of it, if offshore drilling will not reduce gas prices. It's fine to say it anyway...So what of it, if Sarah Palin says crooked things with a straight face? Name me one Republican who will object....you would be hard pressed to find even a single, lone Republican in Washington willing to buck the moral collapse of their own party... To hell with facts, there is another election to be won

Clip Source: www.dailykos.com

We know, for a fact, that Sarah Palin lied about being "against" the infamous Bridge to Nowhere

I don't mean she waffled, or equivocated, or mislead, or was disingenuous, or misspoke. I mean she lied outright. Period.

She was a supporter during the entire process, up until

not even Republicans could attach themselves to such a boondoggle without paying a political price. Then, and only then, did she distance herself from it.

And by "distance herself", we mean "kept the money".

We know, for a fact, that Sarah Palin lied about being "against" earmarks

she hired a Team Abramoff lobbyist to squeeze Washington

The lobbyist delivered nearly $27 million worth

McCain is now on a multistate tour, repeating the very same lies -- and for Republicans, they are applause lines. Huzzah to the "anti-pork" governor whose state is more dependent on pork than any other state. Hooray for the "anti-earmarks" candidate who made a name for herself as a champion of the earmark.

Tags: republican, lies, palin

WHAT MAKES PEOPLE VOTE REPUBLICAN?

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:08:11 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Very interesting--an essay that may surprise you and Learn from ....

Clip Source: www.edge.org

When Republicans say that Democrats "just don't get it," this is the "it" to which they refer. Conservative positions on gays, guns, god, and immigration must be understood as means to achieve one kind of morally ordered society. When Democrats try to explain away these positions using pop psychology they err, they alienate, and they earn the label "elitist." But how can Democrats learn to see—let alone respect—a moral order they regard as narrow-minded, racist, and dumb?

(You can test yourself at www.YourMorals.org.) We think of the moral mind as being like an audio equalizer, with five slider switches for different parts of the moral spectrum. Democrats generally use a much smaller part of the spectrum than do Republicans. The resulting music may sound beautiful to other Democrats, but it sounds thin and incomplete to many of the swing voters that left the party in the 1980s, and whom the Democrats must recapture if they want to produce a lasting political realignment.

When will Congress act to promote alternative energy?

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 03:49:01 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: They talk a good game, but the tax credits needed to boost the industry in a massive way are being held up. If and when Congress gets serious about removing our dependence on foreign oil we'll know it...they'll extend the tax credits that are set to expire this year.

This would not only be a major shot in the arm for the industry, but for our entire economy as well!!!

Clip Source: www.fool.com

Our politicians like to talk a good game about helping wean us off our dependence on foreign fossil fuels, but they won't let something like that get in the way of good partisanship.

T. Boone Pickens has been expending a lot of energy boosting the "Pickens Plan" to invest in natural gas and wind power. He might get more mileage if he devoted some of that time to persuading Congress to extend the tax credits that have helped fuel growth in the alternative energy field. If the credits are allowed to expire at the end of the year, the wind and solar industries may end up being as limp as a ship's sails on becalmed seas.

Tags: alternative energy, congress, solar, tax credits, wind

Listening with our stomachs. Voting with our guts.

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:11:15 GMT

clipped by: egoldstein
clipper's remarks: It seems to me that McCain-Palin now have Obama exactly where Obama had Hillary during the primaries.

During the primaries, Obama was targeted and powerful with his message of change. He connected with people's hearts while Hillary tried to connect with their minds. It was obvious to anyone watching that Hillary was frustrated by this lock he had on her...but she got out of it by appealing to people's hearts, not their minds, for the stretch run (which proved very successful).

If Obama is to win this election, he must realize that it wasn't his cerebral ability to speak about specific policies...it was his passionate ability to speak from the heart and connect with people's hopes and dreams for this country.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Somebody needs to tell Obama that if he wants the chance to calmly answer the phone at 3 a.m. in the White House, he is going to need to start slamming down some phones at 3 p.m. along the campaign trail. I like much of what he has to say, especially about energy, but I don’t think people are feeling it in their guts, and I am a big believer that voters don’t listen through their ears. They listen through their stomachs.

If you as a politician connect with voters on a gut level, they will follow you anywhere and not fret about the details. If you don’t connect with them on a gut level, you can’t show them enough details.

Tags: obama, politics, mccain, palin, tom friedman