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Brave New World of Digital Intimacy

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 12:15:43 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: It is easy to become unsettled by privacy-eroding aspects of awareness tools. But there is another — quite different — result of all this incessant updating: a culture of people who know much more about themselves. Many of the avid Twitterers, Flickrers and Facebook users I interviewed described an unexpected side-effect of constant self-disclosure. The act of stopping several times a day to observe what you’re feeling or thinking can become, after weeks and weeks, a sort of philosophical act. It’s like the Greek dictum to “know thyself,” or the therapeutic concept of mindfulness. (Indeed, the question that floats eternally at the top of Twitter’s Web site — “What are you doing?” — can come to seem existentially freighted. What are you doing?) Having an audience can make the self-reflection even more acute, since, as my interviewees noted, they’re trying to describe their activities in a way that is not only accurate but also interesting to others: the status update as a literary form.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

On Sept. 5, 2006, Mark Zuckerberg changed the way that Facebook worked, and in the process he inspired a revolt.

Pundits predicted that News Feed would kill Facebook, but the opposite happened. It catalyzed a massive boom in the site’s growth. A few weeks after the News Feed imbroglio, Zuckerberg opened the site to the general public (previously, only students could join), and it grew quickly; today, it has 100 million users

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

In essence, Facebook users didn’t think they wanted constant, up-to-the-minute updates on what other people are doing. Yet when they experienced this sort of omnipresent knowledge, they found it intriguing and addictive. Why?

Social scientists have a name for this sort of incessant online contact. They call it “ambient awareness.” It is, they say, very much like being physically near someone and picking up on his mood through the little things he does — body language, sighs, stray comments — out of the corner of your eye.

Tags: brave new world, digital intimacy

Salvador Dali's Alice in Wonderland Series

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 12:42:20 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.lockportstreetgallery.com

Clip Source: www.williambennettgallery.com

Clip Source: www.bl.uk

full of curiosity, she hurried across the field after it, and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge

Clip Source: www.williambennettgallery.com

Clip Source: www.lockportstreetgallery.com

Down the Rabbit Hole

Clip Source: www.bl.uk

"I wish I hadn't cried so much! said Alice, as she swam about, trying to find her way out, "I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears! Well! that'll be a queer thing, to be sure!

Clip Source: www.williambennettgallery.com

Clip Source: www.bl.uk

Clip Source: www.lockportstreetgallery.com

A Caucus Race and a Long Tale

Clip Source: www.williambennettgallery.com

Clip Source: www.bl.uk

"Oh, so Bill's got to come down the chimney, has he?" said Alice to herself, "why, they seem to put everything upon Bill! I wouldn't be in Bill's place for a good deal: the fireplace is a pretty tight one, but I think I can kick a little!"

Clip Source: www.bl.uk

Clip Source: www.williambennettgallery.com

Clip Source: www.bl.uk

She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of the mushroom, and her eyes immediately met those of a large blue caterpillar, which was sitting with its arms folded, quietly smoking a long hookah, and taking not the least notice of her or of anything else.

Clip Source: www.williambennettgallery.com

Clip Source: www.bl.uk

Clip Source: www.williambennettgallery.com

Pig and Pepper

Clip Source: www.williambennettgallery.com

Mad Tea Party

Clip Source: www.williambennettgallery.com

The Queen's Croquet Ground

Clip Source: www.bl.uk

Clip Source: www.williambennettgallery.com

The Mock Turtle's Story

Clip Source: www.williambennettgallery.com

Lobster's Quadrille

Clip Source: www.williambennettgallery.com

Clip Source: www.lockportstreetgallery.com

Clip Source: www.williambennettgallery.com

Clip Source: www.howarth-gallery.co.uk

Tags: art, dali

Why The Media Should Apologize To Sarah

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:58:36 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: She gave a really good speech. And why go beyond that? As we all know, speeches cannot be written by others and rehearsed for days. They are true windows to the soul.

Unless they are delivered by Barack Obama, that is. In which case, as Palin said Wednesday, speeches are just a “cloud of rhetoric.”

Clip Source: www.politico.com

On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry.

We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked.

We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?

We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? And was she his first choice?

Bad questions. Bad media. Bad.

It is not our job to ask questions. Or it shouldn’t be. To hear from the pols at the Republican National Convention this week, our job is to endorse and support the decisions of the pols.

we should have stuck to the warm, human interest stuff like

mooseburgers

we should have stuck to the press release stuff

we should never have strayed into the other stuff. Like

Palin is under investigation

Why go there?

Tags: palin

"The Road Goes On Forever and the party never ends.." beautiful "path" picture

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:32:00 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks:

Clip Source: graphics8.nytimes.com

Clip Source: pixdaus.com

Clip Source: image.linkinn.com

Clip Source: www.geekarmy.com

Clip Source: matadornetwork.cachefly.net

Clip Source: image2.linkinn.com

Clip Source: www.geekarmy.com

Physicists investigate how time moves forward

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:52:40 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: This provides an orientation, or arrow of time, and it is generally believed that all other time asymmetries, such as our sense that future and past are different, are a direct consequence of this thermodynamic arrow.”

In their study, Feng and Crooks have developed a method to accurately measure “time asymmetry” (which refers to our intuitive concept of time, that the past differs from the future, in contrast with time symmetry, where there is no distinction between past and future). They began by investigating the increase in energy dissipation, or entropy, in various arrangements.

While time blatantly moves forward in the macroscopic world, the direction of time becomes confusing on the scale of a single molecule

Clip Source: img.timeinc.net

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

As humans, we have a very intuitive concept of time, and of the differences between the past, present, and future. But, as scientists Edward Feng of the University of California, Berkeley, and Gavin Crooks of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory point out, science does not provide a clear definition of time.

In our everyday lives we have the sense that time flows inexorably from the past into the future; water flows downhill; mountains erode; we are born, grow old, and die; we anticipate the future but remember the past,” the scientists write in a recent study in Physical Review Letters. “Yet almost all of the fundamental theories of physics – classical mechanics, electrodynamics, quantum mechanics, general relativity, and so on – are symmetric with respect to time reversal.

The only fundamental theory that picks out a preferred direction of time is the second law of thermodynamics, which asserts that the entropy of the Universe increases as time flows toward the future

Tags: physics, time

"Artwork inspired by the mysteries and marvels of science." wonderful images

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 08:36:09 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks: "I am often very inspired by science - books on popular science and maths, documentaries, and of course rubbish sci fi films. Here is some of the artwork inspired by the mysteries and marvels of science." The wonderful image is an original drawing by the artist Masonic Boom, aka Kate St.Claire, as part of her series of "science"

Clip Source: flickr.com

You have to imagine this announced in the tone of Thomas Dolby in "She Blinded Me With Science.

Clip Source: flickr.com

"Impossibility" (The Science of Limits and the Limits of Science.)

Clip Source: flickr.com

Richard Dawkin's theory of memetics.

"The trouble is that thought and culture are not the sort of thing that can have distinct units. They do not have a granular structure for the same reason that ocean currents do not have one - namely because they are not stuffs but patterns."

Clip Source: flickr.com

I used to be terrified of the end of the universe when I was a kid, before I realised that it was going to happen 4 billion years in the future not, like, next week.

Clip Source: flickr.com

Inspired by The Moon: The Biography.

Clip Source: flickr.com

i love ferns! i love their fractal self symmetry, and the way the curl out of swirlies to be lovely fronds.

Clip Source: flickr.com

I Can Lose Myself In The Moons Of Jupiter

Clip Source: flickr.com

Inspired by the crazy electrical storm over Croydon last night. I swear to god, that lightening was magenta.

Clip Source: flickr.com

Inspired by this thread on ILX.

www.ted.com/index.php/talks/brian_cox_on_cern_s_supercoll...

Brain and Creativity Institute

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:24:53 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: The mission of the Brain and Creativity Institute is to gather new knowledge about the human emotions, decision-making, memory, and communication, from a neurological perspective, and to apply this knowledge to the solution of problems in the biomedical and sociocultural arenas.

Clip Source: www.usc.edu

The Brain and Creativity Institute was founded by Antonio Damasio and Hanna Damasio in 2006. Since ancient times, thinkers and scientists have sought to explain how we perceive, interpret, and shape our existence. However, until very recently, researchers interested in these questions have had to rely entirely on conjecture or indirect evidence. Now, recent technological advances in brain imaging and fresh insights into the functioning of the human brain at the level of systems, cells and molecules, provide extraordinary new opportunities for uncovering the neurological underpinnings for a large array of mental functions – from emotion and decision-making to innovation and creativity.

It is also apparent that emotion, decision-making, memory and communication, are central to our most fundamental socio-cultural endeavors

The Institute is a groundbreaking effort to make use of important new discoveries from the mind and brain sciences and confront pressing issues of our time.

Tags: brain and creativity, antonio damasio

Robot builders seek a little help from sci-fi

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:06:54 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: "People that thought of it as a camera with legs were really pleased, but people that thought of it as a photographer were really disappointed," he says.

Smart thinks those raised expectations were down to the impact of unrealistically human-like robots in movies and books. "People don't really know what they are. C-3PO in Star Wars is very humanlike, intelligent and capable, but real robots are not like that at all."

Instead of just forcing people to alter their expectations, Smart thinks it makes sense to study how people's ideas about robots are influenced by fiction. That knowledge could be used to design robots that make the most of those expectations.

"My real concern is to get people and robots to play together nicely," says Smart.
Engineers might learn from fictional robots in other ways, says Sharkey.

"It would be worthwhile to study the way computer animators make us connect with simple, non-human objects." Pixar's WALL-E, for example, is easy to connect with, he

Clip Source: technology.newscientist.com

"It's surprising how often people make nervous jokes about robots taking over the world. I don't want to make too much of that, but I think there's something there." So says one roboticist who thinks finding out exactly how fictional robots influence people can help engineers build real ones.

"Most people have never seen a robot before," Smart told New Scientist. "Their experiences – such as they are – all come from movies or literature."

That affects the way people react to real robots, he says.

"People have a theory in their head about how something will behave, and if a robot doesn't fit with that theory, people get nervous," he explains. "It's like standing next to the twitchy guy at the bus stop. He goes against your expectations and you get worried."

For example, not everyone responded well to a robot built by Smart and colleagues that moves around a room composing and then snapping photos of people.

Tags: robotics, sci-fi, science fiction

Hey dude, i'm fighting a bacteria now

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 09:34:44 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Marijuana Ingredient May Fight Bacteria

Marijuana may be something of a wonder drug — though perhaps not in the way you might think.

Researchers in Italy and Britain have found that the main active ingredient in marijuana — tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC — and related compounds show promise as antibacterial agents, particularly against microbial strains that are already resistant to several classes of drugs.

It has been known for decades that Cannabis sativa has antibacterial properties. Experiments in the 1950s tested various marijuana preparations against skin and other infections, but researchers at the time had little understanding of marijuana’s chemical makeup.

The researchers say they don’t know how the cannabinoids work, and whether they would be effective as systemic antibiotics would require much more research and trials. But the compounds may prove useful sooner as a topical agent

Tags: biology, bacteria, marijuana

Gait may be associated with orgasmic ability

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 01:22:21 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: There are several plausible explanations for the results shown by this study. One possibility is that a woman's anatomical features may predispose her to greater or lesser tendency to experience vaginal orgasm. According to Brody, "Blocked pelvic muscles, which might be associated with psychosexual impairments, could both impair vaginal orgasmic response and gait." In addition, vaginally orgasmic women may feel more confident about their sexuality, which might be reflected in their gait. "Such confidence might also be related to the relationship(s) that a woman has had, given the finding that specifically penile-vaginal orgasm is associated with indices of better relationship quality," the authors state. Research has linked vaginal orgasm to better mental health.

The study provides some support for assumptions of a link between muscle blocks and sexual function, according to the authors. They conclude that it may lend credibility to the idea of incorporating training in movement, br

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

A new study found that trained sexologists could infer a woman's history of vaginal orgasm by observing the way she walks. The study is published in the September 2008 issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine

Subjects completed a questionnaire on their sexual behavior and were then videotaped from a distance while walking in a public place. The videotapes were rated by two professors of sexology and two research assistants trained in the functional-sexological approach to sexology, who were not aware of the women's orgasmic history

The results showed that the appropriately trained sexologists were able to correctly infer vaginal orgasm through watching the way the women walked over 80 percent of the time

Further analysis revealed that the sum of stride length and vertebral rotation was greater for the vaginally orgasmic women. "This could reflect the free, unblocked energetic flow from the legs through the pelvis to the spine," the authors note.

Tags: sexology, human behavior

Remember = Reliving

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:59:52 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: Very interesting findings.
if it holds true to 'older' memories, then it raises a question; as the neural network molds and reshapes, so does our memories? if so maybe we can only remember who we are, rather than what we were...

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

For the Brain, Remembering Is Like Reliving

Scientists have for the first time recorded individual brain cells in the act of summoning a spontaneous memory, revealing not only where a remembered experience is registered but also, in part, how the brain is able to recreate it.

spontaneous memories reside in some of the same neurons that fired most furiously when the recalled event had been experienced. Researchers had long theorized as much but until now had only indirect evidence.

For the brain, remembering is a lot like doing (at least in the short term, as the research says nothing about more distant memories).

The researchers were even able to identify specific memories in subjects a second or two before the people themselves reported having them.

“This is what I would call a foundational finding,”

when they recalled a specific one — say, a clip of Homer Simpson — the same cells that had been active during the Homer clip reignited

became active a second or two before people were conscious

Tags: neuroscience, memory

Late-Night Jokes about Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:01:47 GMT

clipped by: lifecyce1898

Clip Source: politicalhumor.about.com

"She said at her church, Governor Palin, said she asked everyone to pray for a natural gas pipeline, which she said was God's will. And today, God said, 'Hey lady, I don't deal with oil companies. That's more Satan's area.'" --Jay Leno

"Speaking of Sarah Palin, she said she's a life-long member of the National Rifle Association. Which may explain why she's in favor of shotgun weddings." --Conan O'Brien

"Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has many views. She says she's opposed to same-sex marriage. Did you know that? Yeah, Palin says everyone knows marriage isn't for gay people; it's for pregnant teenagers." --Conan O'Brien

"And how are you going to be the vice president of the United States with five kids to take care of? She's got a four-month-old of her own, she's about to become a grandmother, and she's partnered with John McCain. How many diapers can one woman possibly change?" --Jimmy Kimmel

Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:57:38 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks:
Trial-and-error evolution
According to Gary Marcus's Kluge our brains are an engineering nightmare, says Steven Rose

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

The fallibility of the human mind is a source of continual frustration to philosophers, artificial intelligencers and evolutionary psychologists. Our memories are weak, we are credulous and easily led to believe improbable or impossible things, our language is not optimally constructed. We have problems with probabilities, and are logically inconsistent. We make choices that are apparently irrational and not in our own best long-term interests, and certainly not in those of our genes. Thus - according to Marcus - we prefer instant gratification to the chance of greater, longer-term benefits. We get drunk, embark on non-procreative sex for mere pleasure, and may even sacrifice our lives for some perceived cause that has nothing to do with increasing our inclusive (genetic) fitness.

His chapter on language as a kluge, full of grammatical and linguistic incongruities, is particularly strong, although his basic argument is almost drowned in a flood of examples

Tags: kluge, human mind, evolution, book review

Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:31:17 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks:

Clip Source: www.theonion.com

As the debate over the teaching of evolution in public schools continues, a new controversy over the science curriculum arose Monday in this embattled Midwestern state.

Scientists from the Evangelical Center For Faith-Based Reasoning are now asserting that the long-held "theory of gravity" is flawed, and they have responded to it with a new theory of Intelligent Falling.

"Things fall not because they are acted upon by some gravitational force, but because a higher intelligence, 'God' if you will, is pushing them down," said Gabriel Burdett, who holds degrees in education, applied Scripture, and physics from Oral Roberts University.

Burdett added: "Gravity—which is taught to our children as a law—is founded on great gaps in understanding.

Isaac Newton himself said, 'I suspect that my theories may all depend upon a force for which philosophers have searched all of nature in vain.' Of course, he is alluding to a higher power."

Tags: humor

The Battle of Words

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:16:26 GMT

clipped by: katsteevns
clipper's remarks: (cont.)Unfortunately, Adolf Hitler understood the power of speech, the power of propaganda and the power of the “big lie.” Physical power was paramount since he believed, “is not right that matters, but victory.” However, physical strength is not sufficient to consummate the revolution. It must be escorted, heralded by its honor guard: the power of speech. How did Hitler know this? Why did it ultimately fail?

Clip Source: shiurtimes.com

The Battle of Words

By Rabbi Pinchas Kantrowitz 31 July 2008

Those who study the background to the rise of Nazism and the Holocaust may be aware how much of an emphasis Adolph Hitler (yimach shmo v’zicro–may his name and memory be erased), put on speech. In his inciting, yet seminal work, Mein Kampf, he writes:

“The broad masses of the people can be moved only by the power of speech.
All great movements are… volcanic eruptions of human passions and emotional sentiments, stirred …by the firebrand of the word hurled among the masses.” (Mein Kampf, Ch. 3)

He writes elsewhere in the book, “the great masses of the people…will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one.” (Ibid, Ch. 10). Additionally, W. L. Shirer, in his book, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, writes: “the victor will not be asked afterwards whether he told the truth or not. In starting and waging a war it is not right that matters, but victory.” (Ch. 16)